diff --git a/osc/core.py b/osc/core.py
index 990a8865..87e5b86d 100644
--- a/osc/core.py
+++ b/osc/core.py
@@ -5142,7 +5142,7 @@ def link_pac(src_project, src_package, dst_project, dst_package, force, rev='',
                                path_args=(quote_plus(dst_project), quote_plus(dst_package)),
                                template_args=None,
                                create_new=False, apiurl=apiurl)
-        root = ET.fromstring(''.join(dst_meta))
+        root = ET.fromstring(b''.join(dst_meta))
         if root.get('project') != dst_project:
             # The source comes from a different project via a project link, we need to create this instance
             meta_change = True