diff --git a/Control/AthenaCommon/share/athena.py b/Control/AthenaCommon/share/athena.py
index 4efe84d8b7477633b8a8cbbc6a01c9fed6192dcb..f114cbed608eb79a7bd63ea274e7d4cffc60339c 100755
--- a/Control/AthenaCommon/share/athena.py
+++ b/Control/AthenaCommon/share/athena.py
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ try:
    import ctypes
    from ctypes.util import find_library as ctypes_find_library
    libc = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary( ctypes_find_library('c') )
-   libc.prctl( 15, 'athena.py', 0, 0, 0 )
+   libc.prctl( 15, b'athena.py', 0, 0, 0 )
 except Exception:
    pass            # don't worry about it failing ...