diff -r 7973e0a15bd4 -r 9ff5a124d111 mercurial/hg.py
--- a/mercurial/hg.py	Fri Apr 07 11:02:43 2017 -0700
+++ b/mercurial/hg.py	Fri Apr 07 13:46:35 2017 +0530
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@
     if u.fragment:
         branch = u.fragment
         u.fragment = None
-    return str(u), (branch, branches or [])
+    return bytes(u), (branch, branches or [])
 
 schemes = {
     'bundle': bundlerepo,