diff --git a/manic/sourcetree.py b/manic/sourcetree.py
index b67992c09..4796d3d00 100644
--- a/manic/sourcetree.py
+++ b/manic/sourcetree.py
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ def checkout(self, verbosity, load_all, load_comp=None):
         else:
             tmp_comps = self._required_compnames
 
-        load_comps = self.order_comps_by_local_path(self, tmp_comps)
+        load_comps = self.order_comps_by_local_path(tmp_comps)
 
         # checkout the primary externals
         for comp in load_comps:
diff --git a/manic/utils.py b/manic/utils.py
index f57f43930..dfe1f4de3 100644
--- a/manic/utils.py
+++ b/manic/utils.py
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ def execute_subprocess(commands, status_to_caller=False,
     hanging_timer.start()
     try:
         output = subprocess.check_output(commands, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
-                                         universal_newlines=True)
+                                         universal_newlines=True).decode('utf-8')
         log_process_output(output)
         status = 0
     except OSError as error: