diff --git a/lisa/git.py b/lisa/git.py
index 99019c750e4890e1fcf526f825d4e516e76b955a..1a3c4612daffc1906b31588e1c67db045cffc924 100644
--- a/lisa/git.py
+++ b/lisa/git.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ def find_shortest_symref(repo_path, sha1):
         "git for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate "
         "--format='%(objectname:short) %(refname:short)' "
         "refs/heads/ refs/remotes/ refs/tags",
+        universal_newlines=True,
         cwd=repo_path, shell=True)
     for line in branches.splitlines():
         try: