diff --git a/fdroidserver/deploy.py b/fdroidserver/deploy.py
index b120999f..c2721f66 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/deploy.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/deploy.py
@@ -237,19 +237,21 @@ def update_remote_storage_with_rclone(repo_section, verbose=False, quiet=False):
             )
             configfilename = USER_RCLONE_CONF
         else:
+            rclone_conf_str = split("rclone config file")
             logging.info('Custom configuration not found.')
             logging.info(
                 'Using default configuration at {}'.format(
-                    subprocess.check_output('rclone config file')
+                    subprocess.check_output(rclone_conf_str).decode("utf-8")
                 )
             )
             configfilename = None
     else:
+        rclone_conf_str = split("rclone config file")
         logging.warning("'path_to_custom_rclone_config' not found in config.yml")
         logging.info('Custom configuration not found.')
         logging.info(
             'Using default configuration at {}'.format(
-                subprocess.check_output('rclone config file')
+                subprocess.check_output(rclone_conf_str).decode("utf-8")
             )
         )
         configfilename = None