More bytes handling

1 files changed, 10 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/gitdb/db/base.py b/gitdb/db/base.py
index 85df324..aa7a7ee 100644
--- a/gitdb/db/base.py
+++ b/gitdb/db/base.py
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ from async import (
 from itertools import chain
 from functools import reduce
 
+import sys
+
 
 __all__ = ('ObjectDBR', 'ObjectDBW', 'FileDBBase', 'CompoundDB', 'CachingDB')
 
@@ -176,6 +178,14 @@ class FileDBBase(object):
         """
         :return: the given relative path relative to our database root, allowing
             to pontentially access datafiles"""
+        if sys.version_info[0] == 3:
+            text_type = str
+        else:
+            text_type = basestring
+
+        if not isinstance(rela_path, text_type):
+            rela_path = rela_path.decode("utf-8")
+
         return join(self._root_path, rela_path)
     #} END interface