diff -r aea79f41ee55 -r dbbae122f5e4 mercurial/interfaces/repository.py
--- a/mercurial/interfaces/repository.py	Mon Feb 03 11:56:02 2020 -0500
+++ b/mercurial/interfaces/repository.py	Mon Feb 03 22:16:36 2020 -0500
@@ -1027,8 +1027,8 @@
     def get(path, default=None):
         """Obtain the node value for a path or a default value if missing."""
 
-    def flags(path, default=b''):
-        """Return the flags value for a path or a default value if missing."""
+    def flags(path):
+        """Return the flags value for a path (default: empty bytestring)."""
 
     def copy():
         """Return a copy of this manifest."""