diff --git a/repo b/repo
index e5cb8904..ebd12c60 100755
--- a/repo
+++ b/repo
@@ -432,7 +432,10 @@ def SetupGnuPG(quiet):
       sys.exit(1)
 
   env = os.environ.copy()
-  env['GNUPGHOME'] = gpg_dir.encode()
+  try:
+    env['GNUPGHOME'] = gpg_dir
+  except UnicodeEncodeError:
+    env['GNUPGHOME'] = gpg_dir.encode()
 
   cmd = ['gpg', '--import']
   try:
@@ -638,7 +641,10 @@ def _Verify(cwd, branch, quiet):
       _print(file=sys.stderr)
 
   env = os.environ.copy()
-  env['GNUPGHOME'] = gpg_dir.encode()
+  try:
+    env['GNUPGHOME'] = gpg_dir
+  except UnicodeEncodeError:
+    env['GNUPGHOME'] = gpg_dir.encode()
 
   cmd = [GIT, 'tag', '-v', cur]
   proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd,