diff --git a/setupbase.py b/setupbase.py
index f2f20d14c..d0495beb3 100644
--- a/setupbase.py
+++ b/setupbase.py
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ def git_prebuild(pkg_dir, build_cmd=build_py):
             with open(out_pth, 'w') as out_file:
                 out_file.writelines([
                     '# GENERATED BY setup.py\n',
-                    'commit = "%s"\n' % repo_commit,
+                    'commit = u"%s"\n' % repo_commit,
                 ])
     return require_submodules(MyBuildPy)