diff --git a/kallithea/bin/kallithea_cli_base.py b/kallithea/bin/kallithea_cli_base.py
--- a/kallithea/bin/kallithea_cli_base.py
+++ b/kallithea/bin/kallithea_cli_base.py
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-import cStringIO
 import functools
+import io
 import logging.config
 import os
 import re
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def read_config(ini_file_name, strip_sec
         return m.group(0)
 
     with open(ini_file_name) as f:
-        return re.sub(r'^\[([^:]+):(.*)]', repl, f.read(), flags=re.MULTILINE)
+        return re.sub(r'^\[([^:]+):(.*)]', repl, f.read().decode(), flags=re.MULTILINE)
 
 
 # This placeholder is the main entry point for the kallithea-cli command
@@ -71,8 +71,8 @@ def register_command(config_file=False, 
             def runtime_wrapper(config_file, *args, **kwargs):
                 path_to_ini_file = os.path.realpath(config_file)
                 kallithea.CONFIG = paste.deploy.appconfig('config:' + path_to_ini_file)
-                config_bytes = read_config(path_to_ini_file, strip_section_prefix=annotated.__name__)
-                logging.config.fileConfig(cStringIO.StringIO(config_bytes))
+                config_string = read_config(path_to_ini_file, strip_section_prefix=annotated.__name__)
+                logging.config.fileConfig(io.StringIO(config_string))
                 if config_file_initialize_app:
                     kallithea.config.middleware.make_app_without_logging(kallithea.CONFIG.global_conf, **kallithea.CONFIG.local_conf)
                     kallithea.lib.utils.setup_cache_regions(kallithea.CONFIG)
diff --git a/kallithea/tests/vcs/test_archives.py b/kallithea/tests/vcs/test_archives.py
--- a/kallithea/tests/vcs/test_archives.py
+++ b/kallithea/tests/vcs/test_archives.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import datetime
+import io
 import os
-import StringIO
 import tarfile
 import tempfile
 import zipfile
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class ArchivesTestCaseMixin(_BackendTest
         tmppath = tempfile.mkstemp(dir=TESTS_TMP_PATH, prefix='test_archive_default_stream-')[1]
         with open(tmppath, 'wb') as stream:
             self.tip.fill_archive(stream=stream)
-        mystream = StringIO.StringIO()
+        mystream = io.BytesIO()
         self.tip.fill_archive(stream=mystream)
         mystream.seek(0)
         with open(tmppath, 'rb') as f: