Index: msgfmt.py
===================================================================
--- msgfmt.py	(revision 59997)
+++ msgfmt.py	(working copy)
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env python
 # -*- coding: iso-8859-1 -*-
-# Written by Martin v. Löwis <loewis@informatik.hu-berlin.de>
+# Written by Martin v. Löwis <loewis@informatik.hu-berlin.de>
 
 """Generate binary message catalog from textual translation description.
 
@@ -56,17 +56,16 @@
 def generate():
     "Return the generated output."
     global MESSAGES
-    keys = MESSAGES.keys()
+    keys = sorted(MESSAGES.keys())
     # the keys are sorted in the .mo file
-    keys.sort()
     offsets = []
-    ids = strs = ''
+    ids = strs = b''
     for id in keys:
         # For each string, we need size and file offset.  Each string is NUL
         # terminated; the NUL does not count into the size.
         offsets.append((len(ids), len(id), len(strs), len(MESSAGES[id])))
-        ids += id + '\0'
-        strs += MESSAGES[id] + '\0'
+        ids += id.encode('utf-8') + b'\0'
+        strs += MESSAGES[id].encode('utf-8') + b'\0'
     output = ''
     # The header is 7 32-bit unsigned integers.  We don't use hash tables, so
     # the keys start right after the index tables.