diff --git a/contrib/hgweb.fcgi b/contrib/hgweb.fcgi
--- a/contrib/hgweb.fcgi
+++ b/contrib/hgweb.fcgi
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # An example FastCGI script for use with flup, edit as necessary
 
 # Path to repo or hgweb config to serve (see 'hg help hgweb')
-config = "/path/to/repo/or/config"
+config = b"/path/to/repo/or/config"
 
 # Uncomment and adjust if Mercurial is not installed system-wide
 # (consult "installed modules" path from 'hg debuginstall'):
diff --git a/contrib/hgweb.wsgi b/contrib/hgweb.wsgi
--- a/contrib/hgweb.wsgi
+++ b/contrib/hgweb.wsgi
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # See https://mercurial-scm.org/wiki/modwsgi for more information
 
 # Path to repo or hgweb config to serve (see 'hg help hgweb')
-config = "/path/to/repo/or/config"
+config = b"/path/to/repo/or/config"
 
 # Uncomment and adjust if Mercurial is not installed system-wide
 # (consult "installed modules" path from 'hg debuginstall'):
diff --git a/hgweb.cgi b/hgweb.cgi
--- a/hgweb.cgi
+++ b/hgweb.cgi
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # See also https://mercurial-scm.org/wiki/PublishingRepositories
 
 # Path to repo or hgweb config to serve (see 'hg help hgweb')
-config = "/path/to/repo/or/config"
+config = b"/path/to/repo/or/config"
 
 # Uncomment and adjust if Mercurial is not installed system-wide
 # (consult "installed modules" path from 'hg debuginstall'):