diff --git a/git-p4.py b/git-p4.py
index 67865d14aa..f127ebce27 100755
--- a/git-p4.py
+++ b/git-p4.py
@@ -27,6 +27,22 @@ import zlib
 import ctypes
 import errno
 
+# support basestring in python3
+try:
+    unicode = unicode
+except NameError:
+    # 'unicode' is undefined, must be Python 3
+    str = str
+    unicode = str
+    bytes = bytes
+    basestring = (str,bytes)
+else:
+    # 'unicode' exists, must be Python 2
+    str = str
+    unicode = unicode
+    bytes = str
+    basestring = basestring
+
 try:
     from subprocess import CalledProcessError
 except ImportError: