diff --git a/hggit/compat.py b/hggit/compat.py
index 29586627ff32c393ad241c1f2408d64da00f2bc3_aGdnaXQvY29tcGF0LnB5..f5180bed98182d077879e21e0ec01d9753b3c786_aGdnaXQvY29tcGF0LnB5 100644
--- a/hggit/compat.py
+++ b/hggit/compat.py
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@
 def config(ui, subtype, section, item):
     if subtype == b'string':
         subtype = b''
-    getconfig = getattr(ui, 'config' + subtype)
+    getconfig = getattr(ui, 'config' + pycompat.sysstr(subtype))
     if hasconfigitems:
         return getconfig(section, item)
     return getconfig(section, item, CONFIG_DEFAULTS[section][item])