Index: /trunk/src/VBox/ValidationKit/common/utils.py
===================================================================
--- /trunk/src/VBox/ValidationKit/common/utils.py	(revision 70566)
+++ /trunk/src/VBox/ValidationKit/common/utils.py	(revision 70567)
@@ -373,5 +373,5 @@
     return oFile;
 
-def noxcptReadLink(sPath, sXcptRet):
+def noxcptReadLink(sPath, sXcptRet, sEncoding = 'utf-8'):
     """
     No exceptions os.readlink wrapper.
@@ -380,6 +380,6 @@
         sRet = os.readlink(sPath); # pylint: disable=E1101
     except:
-        sRet = sXcptRet;
-    return sRet;
+        return sXcptRet;
+    return sRet.decode(sEncoding, 'ignore');
 
 def readFile(sFile, sMode = 'rb'):
@@ -392,5 +392,5 @@
     return sRet;
 
-def noxcptReadFile(sFile, sXcptRet, sMode = 'rb'):
+def noxcptReadFile(sFile, sXcptRet, sMode = 'rb', sEncoding = 'utf-8'):
     """
     No exceptions common.readFile wrapper.
@@ -400,4 +400,6 @@
     except:
         sRet = sXcptRet;
+    if sEncoding is not None:
+        sRet = sRet.decode(sEncoding, 'ignore');
     return sRet;