diff -r fe828884a077 Lib/subprocess.py
--- a/Lib/subprocess.py	Sun Nov 03 14:22:14 2013 +0000
+++ b/Lib/subprocess.py	Sun Nov 03 17:23:08 2013 +0000
@@ -146,17 +146,16 @@
     Return (status, output) of executing cmd in a shell.
 
     Execute the string 'cmd' in a shell with os.popen() and return a 2-tuple
-    (status, output).  cmd is actually run as '{ cmd ; } 2>&1', so that the
-    returned output will contain output or error messages. A trailing newline
-    is stripped from the output. The exit status for the command can be
-    interpreted according to the rules for the C function wait().  Example:
+    (status, output).  Any trailing newlines are stripped from the output.
+    The exit status for the command can be interpreted according to the rules
+    for the C function wait().  Example:
 
     >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('ls /bin/ls')
-    (0, '/bin/ls')
+    (0, b'/bin/ls')
     >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('cat /bin/junk')
-    (256, 'cat: /bin/junk: No such file or directory')
+    (256, b'cat: /bin/junk: No such file or directory')
     >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('/bin/junk')
-    (256, 'sh: /bin/junk: not found')
+    (256, b'sh: /bin/junk: not found')
 
 getoutput(cmd):
     Return output (stdout or stderr) of executing cmd in a shell.
@@ -165,7 +164,7 @@
     value is a string containing the command's output.  Example:
 
     >>> subprocess.getoutput('ls /bin/ls')
-    '/bin/ls'
+    b'/bin/ls'
 
 check_output(*popenargs, **kwargs):
     Run command with arguments and return its output.
@@ -701,15 +700,13 @@
     (256, 'sh: /bin/junk: not found')
     """
     try:
-        data = check_output(cmd, shell=True, universal_newlines=True, stderr=STDOUT)
+        data = check_output(cmd, shell=True, stderr=STDOUT)
         status = 0
     except CalledProcessError as ex:
         data = ex.output
         status = ex.returncode
-    if data[-1:] == '\n':
-        data = data[:-1]
+    data = data.rstrip(b"\r\n")
     return status, data
-
 def getoutput(cmd):
     """Return output (stdout or stderr) of executing cmd in a shell.
 
diff -r fe828884a077 Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py	Sun Nov 03 14:22:14 2013 +0000
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py	Sun Nov 03 17:23:08 2013 +0000
@@ -2157,13 +2157,11 @@
 
     def test_terminate_dead(self):
         self._kill_dead_process('terminate')
-
 class CommandTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_getoutput(self):
-        self.assertEqual(subprocess.getoutput('echo xyzzy'), 'xyzzy')
+        self.assertEqual(subprocess.getoutput('echo xyzzy'), b'xyzzy')
         self.assertEqual(subprocess.getstatusoutput('echo xyzzy'),
-                         (0, 'xyzzy'))
-
+                         (0, b'xyzzy'))
         # we use mkdtemp in the next line to create an empty directory
         # under our exclusive control; from that, we can invent a pathname
         # that we _know_ won't exist.  This is guaranteed to fail.
diff -r fe828884a077 Misc/NEWS
--- a/Misc/NEWS	Sun Nov 03 14:22:14 2013 +0000
+++ b/Misc/NEWS	Sun Nov 03 17:23:08 2013 +0000
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #9922: subprocess.get[status]output now always returns bytes
+
 - Issue #6157: Fixed tkinter.Text.debug().  tkinter.Text.bbox() now raises
   TypeError instead of TclError on wrong number of arguments.  Original patch
   by Guilherme Polo.