--- a/branchhistory.py
+++ b/branchhistory.py
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
     descriptor_string = descriptor[0]
     if descriptor[1] is not None:
         descriptor_string += " / "+ descriptor[1]
-    print descriptor_string
+    print descriptor_string.encode("ascii", "replace")
     if start != end:
         print "  %d .. %d" % (start, end)
     else: