diff --git a/routine.py b/routine.py
index f6db9e9211ea3d1f392a06f4a63130e8ad6d708c..1cdb4300949adeffd8fd1118fae52501d6827253 100755
--- a/routine.py
+++ b/routine.py
@@ -46,9 +46,10 @@ DNSSEC_DSFROMKEY = "/usr/sbin/dnssec-dsfromkey"
 DNSSEC_KEYGEN = "/usr/sbin/dnssec-keygen"
 RNDC = "/usr/sbin/rndc"
 
+_PY3 = sys.version_info.major >= 3
 
 def _print(data, file=sys.stdout):
-    if sys.version_info.major >= 3 and isinstance(data, bytes):
+    if _PY3 and isinstance(data, bytes):
         data = data.decode("utf-8")
     print(data, file=file)
 
@@ -73,6 +74,8 @@ def settime(path, flag, date):
     ]
     p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stderr=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
     err = p.communicate()[1]
+    if _PY3:
+        err = err.decode("utf-8")
     if p.returncode != 0:
         raise ValueError("err %s: %s" % (p.returncode, err))
     if err:
@@ -392,6 +395,8 @@ class Key(object):
         if p.returncode != 0:
             raise ValueError("The key creation has failed")
         keyname = p.communicate()[0].strip()
+        if _PY3:
+            keyname = keyname.decode("utf-8")
         bind_chown(path)
         return cls(os.path.join(path, "%s.private" % keyname))
 
@@ -402,6 +407,8 @@ class Key(object):
         ]
         p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
         err = p.communicate()[1]
+        if _PY3:
+            err = err.decode("utf-8")
         if p.returncode != 0:
             raise ValueError("err %s: %s" % (p.returncode, err))
         if err: