diff --git a/hgext/largefiles/lfutil.py b/hgext/largefiles/lfutil.py
--- a/hgext/largefiles/lfutil.py
+++ b/hgext/largefiles/lfutil.py
@@ -814,7 +814,7 @@ def getstatuswriter(ui, repo, forcibly=N
     Otherwise, this returns the function to always write out (or
     ignore if ``not forcibly``) status.
     """
-    if forcibly is None and util.safehasattr(repo, b'_largefilesenabled'):
+    if forcibly is None and util.safehasattr(repo, '_largefilesenabled'):
         return repo._lfstatuswriters[-1]
     else:
         if forcibly: