diff --git a/fdroid b/fdroid
index 045f2aac..53cc00c5 100755
--- a/fdroid
+++ b/fdroid
@@ -76,9 +76,11 @@ def main():
                     import subprocess
                     try:
                         output = subprocess.check_output(['git', 'describe'],
-                                                         stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+                                                         stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
+                                                         universal_newlines=True)
                     except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
-                        output = 'git commit ' + subprocess.check_output(['git', 'rev-parse', 'HEAD'])
+                        output = 'git commit ' + subprocess.check_output(['git', 'rev-parse', 'HEAD'],
+                                                                         universal_newlines=True)
                 elif os.path.exists('setup.py'):
                     import re
                     m = re.search(r'''.*[\s,\(]+version\s*=\s*["']([0-9a-z.]+)["'].*''',
diff --git a/fdroidserver/build.py b/fdroidserver/build.py
index 10f40dc4..3837694b 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/build.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/build.py
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ def get_clean_vm(reset=False):
         os.mkdir('builder')
 
         p = subprocess.Popen(['vagrant', '--version'],
+                             universal_newlines=True,
                              stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
         vver = p.communicate()[0].strip().split(' ')[1]
         if vver.split('.')[0] != '1' or int(vver.split('.')[1]) < 4:
diff --git a/makebuildserver b/makebuildserver
index dc9d1f44..48e0f197 100755
--- a/makebuildserver
+++ b/makebuildserver
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ def vagrant(params, cwd=None, printout=False):
                is the stdout (and stderr) from vagrant
     """
     p = subprocess.Popen(['vagrant'] + params, cwd=cwd,
-                         stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+                         stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
+                         universal_newlines=True)
     out = ''
     if printout:
         while True: