diff --git a/wa/framework/version.py b/wa/framework/version.py
index 0dbb775c..6a636e8b 100644
--- a/wa/framework/version.py
+++ b/wa/framework/version.py
@@ -47,6 +47,6 @@ def get_commit():
     if p.returncode:
         return None
     if sys.version_info[0] == 3 and isinstance(std, bytes):
-        return std[:8].decode(sys.stdout.encoding)
+        return std[:8].decode(sys.stdout.encoding or 'utf-8')
     else:
         return std[:8]