diff --git a/IPython/core/crashhandler.py b/IPython/core/crashhandler.py
index 9db465a..9804255 100644
--- a/IPython/core/crashhandler.py
+++ b/IPython/core/crashhandler.py
@@ -119,9 +119,9 @@ class CrashHandler(object):
         try:
             rptdir = self.app.ipython_dir
         except:
-            rptdir = os.getcwd()
+            rptdir = os.getcwdu()
         if rptdir is None or not os.path.isdir(rptdir):
-            rptdir = os.getcwd()
+            rptdir = os.getcwdu()
         report_name = os.path.join(rptdir,self.crash_report_fname)
         # write the report filename into the instance dict so it can get
         # properly expanded out in the user message template
diff --git a/IPython/core/history.py b/IPython/core/history.py
index 723b150..7064253 100644
--- a/IPython/core/history.py
+++ b/IPython/core/history.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ class HistoryManager(Configurable):
     dir_hist = List()
     def _dir_hist_default(self):
         try:
-            return [os.getcwd()]
+            return [os.getcwdu()]
         except OSError:
             return []
 
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ class HistoryManager(Configurable):
         optionally open a new session."""
         self.output_hist.clear()
         # The directory history can't be completely empty
-        self.dir_hist[:] = [os.getcwd()]
+        self.dir_hist[:] = [os.getcwdu()]
         
         if new_session:
             if self.session_number:
diff --git a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
index 7ccdf97..fa444a7 100644
--- a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
+++ b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ class InteractiveShell(SingletonConfigurable, Magic):
 
         # keep track of where we started running (mainly for crash post-mortem)
         # This is not being used anywhere currently.
-        self.starting_dir = os.getcwd()
+        self.starting_dir = os.getcwdu()
 
         # Indentation management
         self.indent_current_nsp = 0
diff --git a/IPython/core/magic.py b/IPython/core/magic.py
index bfb3c3b..51704c5 100644
--- a/IPython/core/magic.py
+++ b/IPython/core/magic.py
@@ -2673,7 +2673,7 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
                 winext += '|py'
             execre = re.compile(r'(.*)\.(%s)$' % winext,re.IGNORECASE)
             isexec = lambda fname:os.path.isfile(fname) and execre.match(fname)
-        savedir = os.getcwd()
+        savedir = os.getcwdu()
 
         # Now walk the paths looking for executables to alias.
         try:
@@ -2726,7 +2726,7 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
           In [9]: pwd
           Out[9]: '/home/tsuser/sprint/ipython'
         """
-        return os.getcwd()
+        return os.getcwdu()
     
     @skip_doctest
     def magic_cd(self, parameter_s=''):
@@ -2772,7 +2772,7 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
         parameter_s = parameter_s.strip()
         #bkms = self.shell.persist.get("bookmarks",{})
 
-        oldcwd = os.getcwd()
+        oldcwd = os.getcwdu()
         numcd = re.match(r'(-)(\d+)$',parameter_s)
         # jump in directory history by number
         if numcd:
@@ -2846,7 +2846,7 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
             except OSError:
                 print sys.exc_info()[1]
             else:
-                cwd = os.getcwd()
+                cwd = os.getcwdu()
                 dhist = self.shell.user_ns['_dh']
                 if oldcwd != cwd:
                     dhist.append(cwd)
@@ -2856,7 +2856,7 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
             os.chdir(self.shell.home_dir)
             if hasattr(self.shell, 'term_title') and self.shell.term_title:
                 set_term_title('IPython: ' + '~')
-            cwd = os.getcwd()
+            cwd = os.getcwdu()
             dhist = self.shell.user_ns['_dh']
             
             if oldcwd != cwd:
@@ -2880,7 +2880,7 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
         
         dir_s = self.shell.dir_stack
         tgt = os.path.expanduser(parameter_s)
-        cwd = os.getcwd().replace(self.home_dir,'~')
+        cwd = os.getcwdu().replace(self.home_dir,'~')
         if tgt:
             self.magic_cd(parameter_s)
         dir_s.insert(0,cwd)
@@ -3145,7 +3145,7 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
             if not args:
                 raise UsageError("%bookmark: You must specify the bookmark name")
             elif len(args)==1:
-                bkms[args[0]] = os.getcwd()
+                bkms[args[0]] = os.getcwdu()
             elif len(args)==2:
                 bkms[args[0]] = args[1]
         self.db['bookmarks'] = bkms
diff --git a/IPython/core/profiledir.py b/IPython/core/profiledir.py
index 5f7615f..2051d75 100644
--- a/IPython/core/profiledir.py
+++ b/IPython/core/profiledir.py
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ class ProfileDir(Configurable):
         is not found, a :class:`ProfileDirError` exception will be raised.
 
         The search path algorithm is:
-        1. ``os.getcwd()``
+        1. ``os.getcwdu()``
         2. ``ipython_dir``
 
         Parameters
diff --git a/IPython/core/prompts.py b/IPython/core/prompts.py
index 2964320..e08c249 100644
--- a/IPython/core/prompts.py
+++ b/IPython/core/prompts.py
@@ -224,9 +224,9 @@ def str_safe(arg):
         except Exception,msg:
             # let's keep this little duplication here, so that the most common
             # case doesn't suffer from a double try wrapping.
-            out = '<ERROR: %s>' % msg
+            out = '<ERRORx: %s>' % msg
     except Exception,msg:
-        out = '<ERROR: %s>' % msg
+        out = '<ERRORy: %s>' % msg
         #raise  # dbg
     return out
 
diff --git a/IPython/core/tests/test_application.py b/IPython/core/tests/test_application.py
index 8183fc9..3a59a0f 100644
--- a/IPython/core/tests/test_application.py
+++ b/IPython/core/tests/test_application.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ def test_unicode_cwd():
     
     old_wd = os.getcwdu()
     os.chdir(wd)
-    #raise Exception(repr(os.getcwd()))
+    #raise Exception(repr(os.getcwdu()))
     try:
         app = BaseIPythonApplication()
         # The lines below are copied from Application.initialize()
diff --git a/IPython/external/Itpl/_Itpl.py b/IPython/external/Itpl/_Itpl.py
index 671e9ab..bd69235 100644
--- a/IPython/external/Itpl/_Itpl.py
+++ b/IPython/external/Itpl/_Itpl.py
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ class Itpl:
         for live, chunk in self.chunks:
             if live: app(str(eval(chunk,glob,loc)))
             else: app(chunk)
-        out = ''.join(result)
+        out = u''.join(result)
         try:
             return str(out)
         except UnicodeError:
@@ -212,6 +212,9 @@ class Itpl:
         loc, glob = frame.f_locals, frame.f_globals
 
         return self._str(glob,loc)
+
+    def encode(self, encoding, errors):
+        return str(self)#.encode(encoding, errors)
     
 class ItplNS(Itpl):
     """Class representing a string with interpolation abilities.
diff --git a/IPython/external/path/_path.py b/IPython/external/path/_path.py
index 4abe32d..e7e2e19 100644
--- a/IPython/external/path/_path.py
+++ b/IPython/external/path/_path.py
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ class path(unicode):
         """ Return this path as a relative path,
         based from the current working directory.
         """
-        cwd = self.__class__(os.getcwd())
+        cwd = self.__class__(os.getcwdu())
         return cwd.relpathto(self)
 
     def relpathto(self, dest):
diff --git a/IPython/quarantine/ipy_rehashdir.py b/IPython/quarantine/ipy_rehashdir.py
index 7250470..07faf13 100644
--- a/IPython/quarantine/ipy_rehashdir.py
+++ b/IPython/quarantine/ipy_rehashdir.py
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ def rehashdir_f(self,arg):
             
         execre = re.compile(r'(.*)\.(%s)$' % winext,re.IGNORECASE)
         isexec = lambda fname:os.path.isfile(fname) and execre.match(fname)
-    savedir = os.getcwd()
+    savedir = os.getcwdu()
     try:
         # write the whole loop for posix/Windows so we don't have an if in
         # the innermost part
diff --git a/IPython/quarantine/ipy_synchronize_with.py b/IPython/quarantine/ipy_synchronize_with.py
index 51fe1f5..eed130e 100644
--- a/IPython/quarantine/ipy_synchronize_with.py
+++ b/IPython/quarantine/ipy_synchronize_with.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def find_filename(filename):
     filename = "".join(filename)
 
     if not os.path.isabs(filename):
-        filename = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), filename)
+        filename = os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), filename)
 
     if os.path.isfile(filename):
         return filename
diff --git a/IPython/quarantine/ipy_workdir.py b/IPython/quarantine/ipy_workdir.py
index 53d9105..620fddc 100644
--- a/IPython/quarantine/ipy_workdir.py
+++ b/IPython/quarantine/ipy_workdir.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def workdir_f(ip,line):
         if os.path.isfile(head):
             cmd = os.path.abspath(head) + ' ' + tail
         print "Execute command '" + cmd+ "' in",workdir
-        olddir = os.getcwd()
+        olddir = os.getcwdu()
         os.chdir(workdir)
         try:
             os.system(cmd)
diff --git a/IPython/quarantine/jobctrl.py b/IPython/quarantine/jobctrl.py
index 7518a52..0c8d70f 100644
--- a/IPython/quarantine/jobctrl.py
+++ b/IPython/quarantine/jobctrl.py
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ class AsyncJobQ(threading.Thread):
             self.output.append(out)
 
     def add(self,cmd):
-        self.q.put_nowait((cmd, os.getcwd()))
+        self.q.put_nowait((cmd, os.getcwdu()))
         
     def dumpoutput(self):
         while self.output:
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ def jobctrl_shellcmd(ip,cmd):
                 p = Popen(cmd,shell = True)
             
         jobentry = 'tasks/t' + str(p.pid)
-        ip.db[jobentry] = (p.pid,cmd,os.getcwd(),time.time())
+        ip.db[jobentry] = (p.pid,cmd,os.getcwdu(),time.time())
         p.communicate()        
 
     finally:
diff --git a/IPython/testing/iptest.py b/IPython/testing/iptest.py
index b547a32..12149c8 100644
--- a/IPython/testing/iptest.py
+++ b/IPython/testing/iptest.py
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ def run_iptestall():
     # to clean up any junk files left over by accident.  This also makes it
     # robust against being run in non-writeable directories by mistake, as the
     # temp dir will always be user-writeable.
-    curdir = os.getcwd()
+    curdir = os.getcwdu()
     testdir = tempfile.gettempdir()
     os.chdir(testdir)
 
diff --git a/IPython/testing/plugin/ipdoctest.py b/IPython/testing/plugin/ipdoctest.py
index f2b2c75..1199657 100644
--- a/IPython/testing/plugin/ipdoctest.py
+++ b/IPython/testing/plugin/ipdoctest.py
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ class DocTestCase(doctests.DocTestCase):
             # Save our current directory and switch out to the one where the
             # test was originally created, in case another doctest did a
             # directory change.  We'll restore this in the finally clause.
-            curdir = os.getcwd()
+            curdir = os.getcwdu()
             #print 'runTest in dir:', self._ori_dir  # dbg
             os.chdir(self._ori_dir)
 
diff --git a/IPython/utils/_process_win32.py b/IPython/utils/_process_win32.py
index 094cc9b..3a273c0 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/_process_win32.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/_process_win32.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class AvoidUNCPath(object):
             os.system(cmd)
     """
     def __enter__(self):
-        self.path = os.getcwd()
+        self.path = os.getcwdu()
         self.is_unc_path = self.path.startswith(r"\\")
         if self.is_unc_path:
             # change to c drive (as cmd.exe cannot handle UNC addresses)
diff --git a/IPython/utils/process.py b/IPython/utils/process.py
index 2017395..2ed580b 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/process.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/process.py
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ def arg_split(s, posix=False):
 
 def abbrev_cwd():
     """ Return abbreviated version of cwd, e.g. d:mydir """
-    cwd = os.getcwd().replace('\\','/')
+    cwd = os.getcwdu().replace('\\','/')
     drivepart = ''
     tail = cwd
     if sys.platform == 'win32':
diff --git a/IPython/utils/terminal.py b/IPython/utils/terminal.py
index 062f532..a25a481 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/terminal.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/terminal.py
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ if sys.platform == 'win32':
 
             try:
                 # Cannot be on network share when issuing system commands
-                curr = os.getcwd()
+                curr = os.getcwdu()
                 os.chdir("C:")
                 ret = os.system("title " + title)
             finally:
diff --git a/docs/do_sphinx.py b/docs/do_sphinx.py
index 02b2fba..23fe9eb 100755
--- a/docs/do_sphinx.py
+++ b/docs/do_sphinx.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ if sys.platform != 'win32':
     oscmd('sphinx-build -b latex -d build/doctrees source build/latex')
 
     # Produce pdf.
-    topdir = os.getcwd()
+    topdir = os.getcwdu()
     os.chdir('build/latex')
 
     # Change chapter style to section style: allows chapters to start on
diff --git a/docs/examples/newparallel/davinci/pwordfreq.py b/docs/examples/newparallel/davinci/pwordfreq.py
index 439cc16..77201a1 100644
--- a/docs/examples/newparallel/davinci/pwordfreq.py
+++ b/docs/examples/newparallel/davinci/pwordfreq.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         with open('davinci%i.txt'%i, 'w') as f:
             f.write('\n'.join(chunk))
     
-    cwd = os.path.abspath(os.getcwd())
+    cwd = os.path.abspath(os.getcwdu())
     fnames = [ os.path.join(cwd, 'davinci%i.txt'%i) for i in range(n)]
     tic = time.time()
     pfreqs = pwordfreq(view,fnames)
diff --git a/docs/gh-pages.py b/docs/gh-pages.py
index 0050841..dd360f8 100755
--- a/docs/gh-pages.py
+++ b/docs/gh-pages.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def sh3(cmd):
 def init_repo(path):
     """clone the gh-pages repo if we haven't already."""
     sh("git clone %s %s"%(pages_repo, path))
-    here = os.getcwd()
+    here = os.getcwdu()
     cd(path)
     sh('git checkout gh-pages')
     cd(here)
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         except CalledProcessError:
             tag = "dev"   # Fallback
     
-    startdir = os.getcwd()
+    startdir = os.getcwdu()
     if not os.path.exists(pages_dir):
         # init the repo
         init_repo(pages_dir)
diff --git a/tools/gitwash_dumper.py b/tools/gitwash_dumper.py
index 000245a..a44c5f9 100755
--- a/tools/gitwash_dumper.py
+++ b/tools/gitwash_dumper.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ verbose = False
 
 
 def clone_repo(url, branch):
-    cwd = os.getcwd()
+    cwd = os.getcwdu()
     tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
     try:
         cmd = 'git clone %s %s' % (url, tmpdir)
diff --git a/tools/make_tarball.py b/tools/make_tarball.py
index 11738be..33c5ec5 100755
--- a/tools/make_tarball.py
+++ b/tools/make_tarball.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ tar_name = '%s.tgz' % base_name
 # to the top of the tree.  There are long threads (since 2007) on the git list
 # about this and it still doesn't work in a sensible way...
 
-start_dir = os.getcwd()
+start_dir = os.getcwdu()
 cd('..')
 git_tpl = 'git archive --format=tar --prefix={0}/ HEAD | gzip > {1}'
 sh(git_tpl.format(base_name, tar_name))