--- a/mercurial/util.py	Fri Mar 02 03:06:43 2018 +0530
+++ b/mercurial/util.py	Sun Feb 25 22:31:13 2018 -0500
@@ -2479,7 +2479,8 @@
             else:
                 break
         else:
-            raise error.ParseError(_('invalid date: %r') % date)
+            raise error.ParseError(
+                _('invalid date: %r') % pycompat.bytestr(date))
     # validate explicit (probably user-specified) date and
     # time zone offset. values must fit in signed 32 bits for
     # current 32-bit linux runtimes. timezones go from UTC-12