diff --git a/gramps/cli/clidbman.py b/gramps/cli/clidbman.py
index 89e6fd5e0..5a8ed7bc6 100644
--- a/gramps/cli/clidbman.py
+++ b/gramps/cli/clidbman.py
@@ -476,8 +476,6 @@ def find_next_db_dir():
     while True:
         base = "%x" % int(time.time())
         dbdir = os.path.expanduser(config.get('behavior.database-path'))
-        if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
-            dbdir = dbdir.encode(glocale.getfilesystemencoding())
         new_path = os.path.join(dbdir, base)
         if not os.path.isdir(new_path):
             break
diff --git a/gramps/gen/plug/docgen/graphdoc.py b/gramps/gen/plug/docgen/graphdoc.py
index 0292dedd7..4401c491d 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/plug/docgen/graphdoc.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/plug/docgen/graphdoc.py
@@ -936,12 +936,8 @@ class GVPdfGvDoc(GVDocBase):
             dotfile = os.fdopen(handle, "wb")
         dotfile.write(self._dot.getvalue())
         dotfile.close()
-        # Convert filename to str using file system encoding.
-        if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
-            fname = self._filename.encode(glocale.getfilesystemencoding())
-        else:
-            fname = self._filename
-        
+        fname = self._filename
+
         # Generate the PDF file.
         os.system( 'dot -Tpdf -o"%s" "%s"' % (fname, tmp_dot) )
         
diff --git a/gramps/gen/utils/configmanager.py b/gramps/gen/utils/configmanager.py
index 1dd6ed515..3a457bf03 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/utils/configmanager.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/utils/configmanager.py
@@ -50,11 +50,7 @@ _ = glocale.translation.gettext
 
 def safe_eval(exp):
     # restrict eval to empty environment
-    try:
-        return eval(exp, {})
-    except SyntaxError:
-        logging.warning ("Invalid command string: %s", exp)
-        return exp
+    return eval(exp, {})
 
 ##try:
 ##    from ast import literal_eval as safe_eval
@@ -368,17 +364,9 @@ class ConfigManager(object):
                             default = ""
                         if isinstance(value, int):
                             value = int(value)
-                        # repr() in Py2 effectively runs "encode(val,
-                        # ascii, backslashreplace)" on its argument,
-                        # and there's no way to reconstruct the
-                        # string, so we special-case handling writing
-                        # to ensure the unicode is preserved.
-                        if isinstance(value, str) or isinstance(value, unicode):
-                            key_file.write(("%s%s=u'%s'\n") % (default, key,
-                                                            value))
-                        else:
-                            key_file.write(("%s%s=%s\n")% (default, key,
-                                                           repr(value)))
+                        key_file.write(("%s%s=%s\n")% (default, 
+                                                       key, 
+                                                       repr(value)))
                 key_file.write("\n")
             key_file.close()
         # else, no filename given; nothing to save so do nothing quietly
diff --git a/gramps/gui/viewmanager.py b/gramps/gui/viewmanager.py
index fe71a3e90..ee68880f2 100644
--- a/gramps/gui/viewmanager.py
+++ b/gramps/gui/viewmanager.py
@@ -1097,8 +1097,6 @@ class ViewManager(CLIManager):
         value = dialog.run()
         if value:
             (filename, title) = value
-            if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
-                filename = filename.encode(glocale.getfilesystemencoding())
             self.db_loader.read_file(filename)
             self._post_load_newdb(filename, 'x-directory/normal', title)