diff --git a/hgext/sqlitestore.py b/hgext/sqlitestore.py
--- a/hgext/sqlitestore.py
+++ b/hgext/sqlitestore.py
@@ -973,7 +973,7 @@
 def makedb(path):
     """Construct a database handle for a database at path."""
 
-    db = sqlite3.connect(path)
+    db = sqlite3.connect(pycompat.sysstr(path))
     db.text_factory = bytes
 
     res = db.execute(r'PRAGMA user_version').fetchone()[0]