--- a/mercurial/util.py	Tue Jan 21 18:26:32 2025 -0500
+++ b/mercurial/util.py	Fri Oct 25 11:15:29 2024 +0200
@@ -1197,7 +1197,8 @@
     try:
         from . import __version__  # pytype: disable=import-error
 
-        return __version__.version
+        # setuptools-scm uses py3 str
+        return __version__.version.encode()
     except ImportError:
         return b'unknown'