diff --git a/playbooks/groups/batcave.yml b/playbooks/groups/batcave.yml
index 455992f619..0dd416e32e 100644
--- a/playbooks/groups/batcave.yml
+++ b/playbooks/groups/batcave.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
   - sudo
   - collectd/base
   - role: git/hooks
-    when: datacenter != 'iad2'
   - role: cgit/base
     when: datacenter != 'iad2'
   - role: cgit/clean_lock_cron
diff --git a/roles/git/hooks/files/post-receive-fedora-messaging b/roles/git/hooks/files/post-receive-fedora-messaging
index 060b06764e..1ee79e5051 100644
--- a/roles/git/hooks/files/post-receive-fedora-messaging
+++ b/roles/git/hooks/files/post-receive-fedora-messaging
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def revs_between(head, base):
     if proc.returncode != 0:
         raise IOError('git rev-list failed: %r, err: %r' % (stdout, stderr))
 
-    for line in stdout.strip().split('\n'):
+    for line in stdout.decode('utf-8').strip().split('\n'):
         yield line.strip()