From: david-sarah <david-sarah@jacaranda.org>
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 01:02:15 +0000 (-0700)
Subject: Unicode fixes.
X-Git-Url: https://git.rkrishnan.org/%5B/frontends/flags/%22news.html/cyclelanguage?a=commitdiff_plain;h=80252debcd94fc28d877f59952dba0c462b7401a;p=tahoe-lafs%2Ftahoe-lafs.git

Unicode fixes.
---

diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/cli.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/cli.py
index 80e102b9..6419f0a9 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/cli.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/cli.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ class VDriveOptions(BaseOptions, usage.Options):
         ]
 
     def postOptions(self):
+        # FIXME: allow Unicode node-dir
         # compute a node-url from the existing options, put in self['node-url']
         if self['node-directory']:
             if sys.platform == 'win32' and self['node-directory'] == '~/.tahoe':
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/common.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/common.py
index 38937133..1116e1db 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/common.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/common.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import os, sys, urllib
 import codecs
 from twisted.python import usage
-from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_url
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_url, quote_output
 from allmydata.util.assertutil import precondition
 
 class BaseOptions:
@@ -19,12 +19,12 @@ class BaseOptions:
 
     def opt_version(self):
         import allmydata
-        print allmydata.get_package_versions_string()
+        print >>self.stdout, allmydata.get_package_versions_string()
         sys.exit(0)
 
     def opt_version_and_path(self):
         import allmydata
-        print allmydata.get_package_versions_string(show_paths=True)
+        print >>self.stdout, allmydata.get_package_versions_string(show_paths=True)
         sys.exit(0)
 
 
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ class NoDefaultBasedirMixin(BasedirMixin):
         if not self.basedirs:
             raise usage.UsageError("--basedir must be provided")
 
-DEFAULT_ALIAS = "tahoe"
+DEFAULT_ALIAS = u"tahoe"
 
 
 def get_aliases(nodedir):
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ def get_aliases(nodedir):
         f = open(rootfile, "r")
         rootcap = f.read().strip()
         if rootcap:
-            aliases["tahoe"] = uri.from_string_dirnode(rootcap).to_string()
+            aliases[u"tahoe"] = uri.from_string_dirnode(rootcap).to_string()
     except EnvironmentError:
         pass
     try:
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ def get_aliases(nodedir):
             line = line.strip()
             if line.startswith("#") or not line:
                 continue
-            name, cap = line.split(":", 1)
+            name, cap = line.split(u":", 1)
             # normalize it: remove http: prefix, urldecode
             cap = cap.strip().encode('utf-8')
             aliases[name] = uri.from_string_dirnode(cap).to_string()
@@ -124,21 +124,37 @@ def platform_uses_lettercolon_drivename():
         return True
     return False
 
-class UnknownAliasError(Exception):
-    pass
 
-def get_alias(aliases, path, default):
+class TahoeError(Exception):
+    def __init__(self, msg):
+        Exception.__init__(self, msg)
+        self.msg = msg
+
+    def display(self, err):
+        print >>err, self.msg
+
+
+class UnknownAliasError(TahoeError):
+    def __init__(self, msg):
+        TahoeError.__init__(self, "error: " + msg)
+
+
+def get_alias(aliases, path_unicode, default):
+    """
+    Transform u"work:path/filename" into (aliases[u"work"], u"path/filename".encode('utf-8')).
+    If default=None, then an empty alias is indicated by returning
+    DefaultAliasMarker. We special-case strings with a recognized cap URI
+    prefix, to make it easy to access specific files/directories by their
+    caps.
+    If the transformed alias is either not found in aliases, or is blank
+    and default is not found in aliases, an UnknownAliasError is
+    raised.
+    """
+    precondition(isinstance(path_unicode, unicode), path_unicode)
+
     from allmydata import uri
-    # transform "work:path/filename" into (aliases["work"], "path/filename").
-    # If default=None, then an empty alias is indicated by returning
-    # DefaultAliasMarker. We special-case strings with a recognized cap URI
-    # prefix, to make it easy to access specific files/directories by their
-    # caps.
-    # If the transformed alias is either not found in aliases, or is blank
-    # and default is not found in aliases, an UnknownAliasError is
-    # raised.
-    path = path.strip()
-    if uri.has_uri_prefix(path.encode('utf-8')):
+    path = path_unicode.encode('utf-8').strip(" ")
+    if uri.has_uri_prefix(path):
         # We used to require "URI:blah:./foo" in order to get a subpath,
         # stripping out the ":./" sequence. We still allow that for compatibility,
         # but now also allow just "URI:blah/foo".
@@ -159,12 +175,14 @@ def get_alias(aliases, path, default):
                                     "'tahoe' alias doesn't exist. To create "
                                     "it, use 'tahoe create-alias tahoe'.")
         return aliases[default], path
-    if colon == 1 and default == None and platform_uses_lettercolon_drivename():
+    if colon == 1 and default is None and platform_uses_lettercolon_drivename():
         # treat C:\why\must\windows\be\so\weird as a local path, not a tahoe
         # file in the "C:" alias
         return DefaultAliasMarker, path
-    alias = path[:colon]
-    if "/" in alias:
+
+    # decoding must succeed because path is valid UTF-8 and colon & space are ASCII
+    alias = path[:colon].decode('utf-8')
+    if u"/" in alias:
         # no alias, but there's a colon in a dirname/filename, like
         # "foo/bar:7"
         if default == None:
@@ -175,7 +193,8 @@ def get_alias(aliases, path, default):
                                     "it, use 'tahoe create-alias tahoe'.")
         return aliases[default], path
     if alias not in aliases:
-        raise UnknownAliasError("Unknown alias '%s', please create it with 'tahoe add-alias' or 'tahoe create-alias'." % alias)
+        raise UnknownAliasError("Unknown alias %s, please create it with 'tahoe add-alias' or 'tahoe create-alias'." %
+                                quote_output(alias))
     return aliases[alias], path[colon+1:]
 
 def escape_path(path):
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/common_http.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/common_http.py
index cc145b02..089b4573 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/common_http.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/common_http.py
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@ from cStringIO import StringIO
 import urlparse, httplib
 import allmydata # for __full_version__
 
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import quote_output
+from allmydata.scripts.common import TahoeError
+
+
 # copied from twisted/web/client.py
 def parse_url(url, defaultPort=None):
     url = url.strip()
@@ -63,7 +67,20 @@ def do_http(method, url, body=""):
 
     return c.getresponse()
 
+
+def format_http_success(resp):
+    return "%s %s" % (resp.status, quote_output(resp.reason, quotemarks=False))
+
+def format_http_error(msg, resp):
+    return "%s: %s %s\n%s" % (msg, resp.status, quote_output(resp.reason, quotemarks=False),
+                              quote_output(resp.read(), quotemarks=False))
+
 def check_http_error(resp, stderr):
     if resp.status < 200 or resp.status >= 300:
-        print >>stderr, "error %d during HTTP request" % resp.status
+        print >>stderr, format_http_error("Error during HTTP request", resp)
         return 1
+
+
+class HTTPError(TahoeError):
+    def __init__(self, msg, resp):
+        TahoeError.__init__(format_http_error(msg, resp))
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/consolidate.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/consolidate.py
index 5088b666..da0252fa 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/consolidate.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/consolidate.py
@@ -4,12 +4,61 @@ import sqlite3 as sqlite
 
 import urllib
 import simplejson
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
-from allmydata.scripts.tahoe_backup import parse_old_timestamp, readonly, \
-     raiseHTTPError, HTTPError
-from allmydata.util import hashutil, base32
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, HTTPError
+from allmydata.util import hashutil, base32, time_format
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import to_str, quote_output, quote_path
 from allmydata.util.netstring import netstring
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS
+from allmydata import uri
+
+
+def readonly(writedircap):
+    return uri.from_string_dirnode(writedircap).get_readonly().to_string()
+
+def parse_old_timestamp(s, options):
+    try:
+        if not s.endswith("Z"):
+            raise ValueError
+        # This returns seconds-since-epoch for an ISO-8601-ish-formatted UTC
+        # time string. This might raise ValueError if the string is not in the
+        # right format.
+        when = time_format.iso_utc_time_to_seconds(s[:-1])
+        return when
+    except ValueError:
+        pass
+
+    try:
+        # "2008-11-16 10.34 PM" (localtime)
+        if s[-3:] in (" AM", " PM"):
+            # this might raise ValueError
+            when = time.strptime(s[:-3], "%Y-%m-%d %I.%M")
+            if s[-3:] == "PM":
+                when += 12*60*60
+            return when
+    except ValueError:
+        pass
+
+    try:
+        # "2008-11-16 10.34.56 PM" (localtime)
+        if s[-3:] in (" AM", " PM"):
+            # this might raise ValueError
+            when = time.strptime(s[:-3], "%Y-%m-%d %I.%M.%S")
+            if s[-3:] == "PM":
+                when += 12*60*60
+            return when
+    except ValueError:
+        pass
+
+    try:
+        # "2008-12-31 18.21.43"
+        when = time.strptime(s, "%Y-%m-%d %H.%M.%S")
+        return when
+    except ValueError:
+        pass
+
+    print >>options.stderr, "unable to parse old timestamp '%s', ignoring" % s
+    return None
+
 
 TAG = "consolidator_dirhash_v1"
 
@@ -23,6 +72,7 @@ class Consolidator:
         self.rootcap, path = get_alias(options.aliases, options.where,
                                        DEFAULT_ALIAS)
         assert path == ""
+        # TODO: allow dbfile and backupfile to be Unicode
         self.dbfile = options["dbfile"]
         assert self.dbfile, "--dbfile is required"
         self.backupfile = options["backupfile"]
@@ -47,7 +97,7 @@ class Consolidator:
         url = self.nodeurl + "uri/%s?t=json" % urllib.quote(dircap)
         resp = do_http("GET", url)
         if resp.status != 200:
-            raiseHTTPError("Error during directory GET", resp)
+            raise HTTPError("Error during directory GET", resp)
         jd = simplejson.load(resp)
         ntype, ndata = jd
         if ntype != "dirnode":
@@ -72,18 +122,25 @@ class Consolidator:
         for (childname, (childtype, childdata)) in kids.items():
             if childtype != "dirnode":
                 continue
-            potential_systems[childname] = str(childdata["rw_uri"])
+            if "rw_uri" not in childdata:
+                self.msg("%s: not writeable" % quote_output(childname))
+                continue
+            potential_systems[childname] = to_str(childdata["rw_uri"])
         backup_data = {"Backups": data, "systems": {}, "archives": {}}
         systems = {}
         for name, sdircap in potential_systems.items():
             sdata = self.read_directory_json(sdircap)
             kids = sdata["children"]
             if not u"Archives" in kids and not u"Latest Backup" in kids:
-                self.msg("%s: not a backupdir, no 'Archives' and 'Latest'" % name)
+                self.msg("%s: not a backupdir, no 'Archives' and 'Latest'" % quote_output(name))
+                continue
+            archives_capdata = kids[u"Archives"][1]
+            if "rw_uri" not in archives_capdata:
+                self.msg("%s: /Archives is not writeable" % quote_output(name))
                 continue
-            self.msg("%s is a system" % name)
+            self.msg("%s is a system" % quote_output(name))
             backup_data["systems"][name] = sdata
-            archives_dircap = kids[u"Archives"][1]["rw_uri"]
+            archives_dircap = to_str(archives_capdata["rw_uri"])
             archives_data = self.read_directory_json(archives_dircap)
             backup_data["archives"][name] = archives_data
             systems[name] = archives_dircap
@@ -136,7 +193,7 @@ class Consolidator:
         #  [$NAME, writecap, $NAME-readonly, readcap] : processed, not replaced
         #  [None, None, $NAME, readcap] : processed and replaced
 
-        self.msg("consolidating system %s" % system_name)
+        self.msg("consolidating system %s" % quote_output(system_name))
         self.directories_reused = 0
         self.directories_used_as_is = 0
         self.directories_created = 0
@@ -149,11 +206,11 @@ class Consolidator:
         children = sorted(data["children"].items())
         for i, (childname, (childtype, childdata)) in enumerate(children):
             if childtype != "dirnode":
-                self.msg("non-dirnode %s in Archives/" % childname)
+                self.msg("non-dirnode %s in Archives/" % quote_output(childname))
                 continue
-            timename = childname
-            if childname.endswith("-readonly"):
-                timename = childname[:-len("-readonly")]
+            timename = to_str(childname)
+            if timename.endswith("-readonly"):
+                timename = timename[:-len("-readonly")]
             timestamp = parse_old_timestamp(timename, self.options)
             assert timestamp is not None, timename
             snapshots.setdefault(timestamp, [None, None, None, None])
@@ -161,15 +218,15 @@ class Consolidator:
             # need to re-scan it
             is_readonly = not childdata.has_key("rw_uri")
             if is_readonly:
-                readcap = str(childdata["ro_uri"])
+                readcap = to_str(childdata["ro_uri"])
                 if self.must_rescan_readonly_snapshots:
                     self.msg(" scanning old %s (%d/%d)" %
-                             (childname, i+1, len(children)))
-                    self.scan_old_directory(str(childdata["ro_uri"]))
+                             (quote_output(childname), i+1, len(children)))
+                    self.scan_old_directory(to_str(childdata["ro_uri"]))
                 snapshots[timestamp][2] = childname
                 snapshots[timestamp][3] = readcap
             else:
-                writecap = str(childdata["rw_uri"])
+                writecap = to_str(childdata["rw_uri"])
                 snapshots[timestamp][0] = childname
                 snapshots[timestamp][1] = writecap
         snapshots = [ [timestamp] + values
@@ -197,7 +254,7 @@ class Consolidator:
                 assert roname
                 assert not rwname
                 first_snapshot = False
-                self.msg(" %s already readonly" % roname)
+                self.msg(" %s already readonly" % quote_output(roname))
                 continue
             if readcap and writecap:
                 # we've processed it, creating a -readonly version, but we
@@ -205,9 +262,9 @@ class Consolidator:
                 assert roname
                 assert rwname
                 first_snapshot = False
-                self.msg(" %s processed but not yet replaced" % roname)
+                self.msg(" %s processed but not yet replaced" % quote_output(roname))
                 if self.options["really"]:
-                    self.msg("  replacing %s with %s" % (rwname, roname))
+                    self.msg("  replacing %s with %s" % (quote_output(rwname), quote_output(roname)))
                     self.put_child(archives_dircap, rwname, readcap)
                     self.delete_child(archives_dircap, roname)
                 continue
@@ -221,29 +278,29 @@ class Consolidator:
                 first_snapshot = False
                 readcap = readonly(writecap)
                 self.directories_used_as_is += 1
-                self.msg(" %s: oldest snapshot, using as-is" % rwname)
+                self.msg(" %s: oldest snapshot, using as-is" % quote_output(rwname))
                 self.scan_old_directory(readcap)
             else:
                 # for the others, we must scan their contents and build up a new
                 # readonly directory (which shares common subdirs with previous
                 # backups)
-                self.msg(" %s: processing (%d/%d)" % (rwname, i+1, len(snapshots)))
+                self.msg(" %s: processing (%d/%d)" % (quote_output(rwname), i+1, len(snapshots)))
                 started = time.time()
                 readcap = self.process_directory(readonly(writecap), (rwname,))
                 elapsed = time.time() - started
                 eta = "%ds" % (elapsed * (len(snapshots) - i-1))
             if self.options["really"]:
-                self.msg("  replaced %s" % rwname)
+                self.msg("  replaced %s" % quote_output(rwname))
                 self.put_child(archives_dircap, rwname, readcap)
             else:
-                self.msg("  created %s" % roname)
+                self.msg("  created %s" % quote_output(roname))
                 self.put_child(archives_dircap, roname, readcap)
 
             snapshot_created = self.directories_created - start_created
             snapshot_used_as_is = self.directories_used_as_is - start_used_as_is
             snapshot_reused = self.directories_reused - start_reused
             self.msg("  %s: done: %d dirs created, %d used as-is, %d reused, eta %s"
-                     % (rwname,
+                     % (quote_output(rwname),
                         snapshot_created, snapshot_used_as_is, snapshot_reused,
                         eta))
         # done!
@@ -259,7 +316,7 @@ class Consolidator:
         # for my contents. In all cases I return a directory readcap that
         # points to my contents.
 
-        assert isinstance(readcap, str)
+        readcap = to_str(readcap)
         self.directories_seen.add(readcap)
 
         # build up contents to pass to mkdir() (which uses t=set_children)
@@ -271,13 +328,13 @@ class Consolidator:
         for (childname, (childtype, childdata)) in sorted(data["children"].items()):
             if childtype == "dirnode":
                 childpath = path + (childname,)
-                old_childcap = str(childdata["ro_uri"])
+                old_childcap = to_str(childdata["ro_uri"])
                 childcap = self.process_directory(old_childcap, childpath)
                 if childcap != old_childcap:
                     children_modified = True
                 contents[childname] = ("dirnode", childcap, None)
             else:
-                childcap = str(childdata["ro_uri"])
+                childcap = to_str(childdata["ro_uri"])
                 contents[childname] = (childtype, childcap, None)
             hashkids.append( (childname, childcap) )
 
@@ -285,7 +342,7 @@ class Consolidator:
         old_dircap = self.get_old_dirhash(dirhash)
         if old_dircap:
             if self.options["verbose"]:
-                self.msg("   %r: reused" % "/".join(path))
+                self.msg("   %s: reused" % quote_path(path))
             assert isinstance(old_dircap, str)
             self.directories_reused += 1
             self.directories_used.add(old_dircap)
@@ -293,7 +350,7 @@ class Consolidator:
         if not children_modified:
             # we're allowed to use this directory as-is
             if self.options["verbose"]:
-                self.msg("   %r: used as-is" % "/".join(path))
+                self.msg("   %s: used as-is" % quote_path(path))
             new_dircap = readonly(readcap)
             assert isinstance(new_dircap, str)
             self.store_dirhash(dirhash, new_dircap)
@@ -302,7 +359,7 @@ class Consolidator:
             return new_dircap
         # otherwise, we need to create a new directory
         if self.options["verbose"]:
-            self.msg("   %r: created" % "/".join(path))
+            self.msg("   %s: created" % quote_path(path))
         new_dircap = readonly(self.mkdir(contents))
         assert isinstance(new_dircap, str)
         self.store_dirhash(dirhash, new_dircap)
@@ -315,21 +372,21 @@ class Consolidator:
                                                   urllib.quote(childname))
         resp = do_http("PUT", url, childcap)
         if resp.status not in (200, 201):
-            raiseHTTPError("error during put_child", resp)
+            raise HTTPError("Error during put_child", resp)
 
     def delete_child(self, dircap, childname):
         url = self.nodeurl + "uri/%s/%s" % (urllib.quote(dircap),
                                             urllib.quote(childname))
         resp = do_http("DELETE", url)
         if resp.status not in (200, 201):
-            raiseHTTPError("error during delete_child", resp)
+            raise HTTPError("Error during delete_child", resp)
 
     def mkdir(self, contents):
         url = self.nodeurl + "uri?t=mkdir"
         resp = do_http("POST", url)
         if resp.status < 200 or resp.status >= 300:
-            raiseHTTPError("error during mkdir", resp)
-        dircap = str(resp.read().strip())
+            raise HTTPError("Error during mkdir", resp)
+        dircap = to_str(resp.read().strip())
         url = self.nodeurl + "uri/%s?t=set_children" % urllib.quote(dircap)
         body = dict([ (childname, (contents[childname][0],
                                    {"ro_uri": contents[childname][1],
@@ -339,7 +396,7 @@ class Consolidator:
                       ])
         resp = do_http("POST", url, simplejson.dumps(body))
         if resp.status != 200:
-            raiseHTTPError("error during set_children", resp)
+            raise HTTPError("Error during set_children", resp)
         return dircap
 
     def scan_old_directory(self, dircap, ancestors=()):
@@ -358,7 +415,7 @@ class Consolidator:
         data = self.read_directory_json(dircap)
         kids = []
         for (childname, (childtype, childdata)) in data["children"].items():
-            childcap = str(childdata["ro_uri"])
+            childcap = to_str(childdata["ro_uri"])
             if childtype == "dirnode":
                 self.scan_old_directory(childcap, ancestors)
             kids.append( (childname, childcap) )
@@ -368,7 +425,7 @@ class Consolidator:
 
     def hash_directory_contents(self, kids):
         kids.sort()
-        s = "".join([netstring(childname.encode("utf-8"))+netstring(childcap)
+        s = "".join([netstring(to_str(childname))+netstring(childcap)
                      for (childname, childcap) in kids])
         return hashutil.tagged_hash(TAG, s)
 
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/debug.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/debug.py
index d18d3cb1..0af308f6 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/debug.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/debug.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import struct, time, os
 from twisted.python import usage, failure
 from twisted.internet import defer
 from allmydata.scripts.cli import VDriveOptions
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import argv_to_unicode
 
 class DumpOptions(usage.Options):
     def getSynopsis(self):
@@ -768,7 +769,7 @@ class ConsolidateOptions(VDriveOptions):
         ("verbose", "v", "Emit a line for every directory examined"),
         ]
     def parseArgs(self, where):
-        self.where = where
+        self.where = argv_to_unicode(where)
 
 def consolidate(options):
     from allmydata.scripts.consolidate import main
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/slow_operation.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/slow_operation.py
index 3f0a9c59..f47c0412 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/slow_operation.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/slow_operation.py
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 import os, time
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS, escape_path, \
                                      UnknownAliasError
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, format_http_error
 from allmydata.util import base32
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import quote_output, is_printable_ascii
 import urllib
 import simplejson
 
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ class SlowOperationRunner:
         try:
             rootcap, path = get_alias(options.aliases, where, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
         except UnknownAliasError, e:
-            print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+            e.display(stderr)
             return 1
         if path == '/':
             path = ''
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ class SlowOperationRunner:
         url = self.make_url(url, ophandle)
         resp = do_http("POST", url)
         if resp.status not in (200, 302):
-            print >>stderr, "ERROR", resp.status, resp.reason, resp.read()
+            print >>stderr, format_http_error("ERROR", resp)
             return 1
         # now we poll for results. We nominally poll at t=1, 5, 10, 30, 60,
         # 90, k*120 seconds, but if the poll takes non-zero time, that will
@@ -65,14 +66,17 @@ class SlowOperationRunner:
         stderr = self.options.stderr
         resp = do_http("GET", url)
         if resp.status != 200:
-            print >>stderr, "ERROR", resp.status, resp.reason, resp.read()
+            print >>stderr, format_http_error("ERROR", resp)
             return True
         jdata = resp.read()
         data = simplejson.loads(jdata)
         if not data["finished"]:
             return False
         if self.options.get("raw"):
-            print >>stdout, jdata
+            if is_printable_ascii(jdata):
+                print >>stdout, jdata
+            else:
+                print >>stderr, "The JSON response contained unprintable characters:\n%s" % quote_output(jdata)
             return True
         self.write_results(data)
         return True
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_add_alias.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_add_alias.py
index 1c03ad5a..984719a4 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_add_alias.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_add_alias.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from allmydata import uri
 from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, check_http_error
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_aliases
 from allmydata.util.fileutil import move_into_place
-from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_stdout
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_output, quote_output
 
 
 def add_line_to_aliasfile(aliasfile, alias, cap):
@@ -37,14 +37,14 @@ def add_alias(options):
 
     old_aliases = get_aliases(nodedir)
     if alias in old_aliases:
-        print >>stderr, "Alias '%s' already exists!" % alias
+        print >>stderr, "Alias %s already exists!" % quote_output(alias)
         return 1
     aliasfile = os.path.join(nodedir, "private", "aliases")
     cap = uri.from_string_dirnode(cap).to_string()
 
     add_line_to_aliasfile(aliasfile, alias, cap)
 
-    print >>stdout, "Alias '%s' added" % (unicode_to_stdout(alias),)
+    print >>stdout, "Alias %s added" % quote_output(alias)
     return 0
 
 def create_alias(options):
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def create_alias(options):
 
     old_aliases = get_aliases(nodedir)
     if alias in old_aliases:
-        print >>stderr, "Alias '%s' already exists!" % alias
+        print >>stderr, "Alias %s already exists!" % quote_output(alias)
         return 1
 
     aliasfile = os.path.join(nodedir, "private", "aliases")
@@ -77,16 +77,26 @@ def create_alias(options):
 
     add_line_to_aliasfile(aliasfile, alias, new_uri)
 
-    print >>stdout, "Alias '%s' created" % (unicode_to_stdout(alias),)
+    print >>stdout, "Alias %s created" % (quote_output(alias),)
     return 0
 
 def list_aliases(options):
     nodedir = options['node-directory']
     stdout = options.stdout
+    stderr = options.stderr
     aliases = get_aliases(nodedir)
     alias_names = sorted(aliases.keys())
-    max_width = max([len(name) for name in alias_names] + [0])
+    max_width = max([len(quote_output(name)) for name in alias_names] + [0])
     fmt = "%" + str(max_width) + "s: %s"
+    rc = 0
     for name in alias_names:
-        print >>stdout, fmt % (name, aliases[name])
-
+        try:
+            print >>stdout, fmt % (unicode_to_output(name), unicode_to_output(aliases[name].decode('utf-8')))
+        except (UnicodeEncodeError, UnicodeDecodeError):
+            print >>stderr, fmt % (quote_output(name), quote_output(aliases[name]))
+            rc = 1
+
+    if rc == 1:
+        print >>stderr, "\nThis listing included aliases or caps that could not be converted to the terminal" \
+                        "\noutput encoding. These are shown using backslash escapes and in quotes."
+    return rc
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_backup.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_backup.py
index 425e8eba..e332b9f5 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_backup.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_backup.py
@@ -6,20 +6,13 @@ import simplejson
 import datetime
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, escape_path, DEFAULT_ALIAS, \
                                      UnknownAliasError
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, HTTPError, format_http_error
 from allmydata.util import time_format
 from allmydata.scripts import backupdb
-from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_stdout, listdir_unicode, open_unicode
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import listdir_unicode, open_unicode, quote_output, to_str
 from allmydata.util.assertutil import precondition
 
 
-class HTTPError(Exception):
-    pass
-
-def raiseHTTPError(msg, resp):
-    msg = msg + ": %s %s %s" % (resp.status, resp.reason, resp.read())
-    raise HTTPError(msg)
-
 def get_local_metadata(path):
     metadata = {}
 
@@ -49,8 +42,9 @@ def mkdir(contents, options):
     url = options['node-url'] + "uri?t=mkdir-immutable"
     resp = do_http("POST", url, body)
     if resp.status < 200 or resp.status >= 300:
-        raiseHTTPError("error during mkdir", resp)
-    dircap = str(resp.read().strip())
+        raise HTTPError("Error during mkdir", resp)
+
+    dircap = to_str(resp.read().strip())
     return dircap
 
 def put_child(dirurl, childname, childcap):
@@ -58,7 +52,7 @@ def put_child(dirurl, childname, childcap):
     url = dirurl + urllib.quote(childname) + "?t=uri"
     resp = do_http("PUT", url, childcap)
     if resp.status not in (200, 201):
-        raiseHTTPError("error during put_child", resp)
+        raise HTTPError("Error during put_child", resp)
 
 class BackupProcessingError(Exception):
     pass
@@ -99,7 +93,7 @@ class BackerUpper:
         try:
             rootcap, path = get_alias(options.aliases, options.to_dir, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
         except UnknownAliasError, e:
-            print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+            e.display(stderr)
             return 1
         to_url = nodeurl + "uri/%s/" % urllib.quote(rootcap)
         if path:
@@ -115,8 +109,7 @@ class BackerUpper:
         if resp.status == 404:
             resp = do_http("POST", archives_url + "?t=mkdir")
             if resp.status != 200:
-                print >>stderr, "Unable to create target directory: %s %s %s" % \
-                      (resp.status, resp.reason, resp.read())
+                print >>stderr, format_http_error("Unable to create target directory", resp)
                 return 1
 
         # second step: process the tree
@@ -156,20 +149,19 @@ class BackerUpper:
         return 0
 
     def verboseprint(self, msg):
+        precondition(isinstance(msg, str), msg)
         if self.verbosity >= 2:
-            if isinstance(msg, unicode):
-                msg = unicode_to_stdout(msg)
-
             print >>self.options.stdout, msg
 
     def warn(self, msg):
+        precondition(isinstance(msg, str), msg)
         print >>self.options.stderr, msg
 
     def process(self, localpath):
         precondition(isinstance(localpath, unicode), localpath)
         # returns newdircap
 
-        self.verboseprint("processing %s" % localpath)
+        self.verboseprint("processing %s" % quote_output(localpath))
         create_contents = {} # childname -> (type, rocap, metadata)
         compare_contents = {} # childname -> rocap
 
@@ -177,7 +169,7 @@ class BackerUpper:
             children = listdir_unicode(localpath)
         except EnvironmentError:
             self.directories_skipped += 1
-            self.warn("WARNING: permission denied on directory %s" % localpath)
+            self.warn("WARNING: permission denied on directory %s" % quote_output(localpath))
             children = []
 
         for child in self.options.filter_listdir(children):
@@ -199,17 +191,17 @@ class BackerUpper:
                     compare_contents[child] = childcap
                 except EnvironmentError:
                     self.files_skipped += 1
-                    self.warn("WARNING: permission denied on file %s" % childpath)
+                    self.warn("WARNING: permission denied on file %s" % quote_output(childpath))
             else:
                 self.files_skipped += 1
                 if os.path.islink(childpath):
-                    self.warn("WARNING: cannot backup symlink %s" % childpath)
+                    self.warn("WARNING: cannot backup symlink %s" % quote_output(childpath))
                 else:
-                    self.warn("WARNING: cannot backup special file %s" % childpath)
+                    self.warn("WARNING: cannot backup special file %s" % quote_output(childpath))
 
         must_create, r = self.check_backupdb_directory(compare_contents)
         if must_create:
-            self.verboseprint(" creating directory for %s" % localpath)
+            self.verboseprint(" creating directory for %s" % quote_output(localpath))
             newdircap = mkdir(create_contents, self.options)
             assert isinstance(newdircap, str)
             if r:
@@ -217,7 +209,7 @@ class BackerUpper:
             self.directories_created += 1
             return newdircap
         else:
-            self.verboseprint(" re-using old directory for %s" % localpath)
+            self.verboseprint(" re-using old directory for %s" % quote_output(localpath))
             self.directories_reused += 1
             return r.was_created()
 
@@ -237,7 +229,7 @@ class BackerUpper:
 
         # we must check the file before using the results
         filecap = r.was_uploaded()
-        self.verboseprint("checking %s" % filecap)
+        self.verboseprint("checking %s" % quote_output(filecap))
         nodeurl = self.options['node-url']
         checkurl = nodeurl + "uri/%s?t=check&output=JSON" % urllib.quote(filecap)
         self.files_checked += 1
@@ -270,7 +262,7 @@ class BackerUpper:
 
         # we must check the directory before re-using it
         dircap = r.was_created()
-        self.verboseprint("checking %s" % dircap)
+        self.verboseprint("checking %s" % quote_output(dircap))
         nodeurl = self.options['node-url']
         checkurl = nodeurl + "uri/%s?t=check&output=JSON" % urllib.quote(dircap)
         self.directories_checked += 1
@@ -292,22 +284,24 @@ class BackerUpper:
     def upload(self, childpath):
         precondition(isinstance(childpath, unicode), childpath)
 
-        #self.verboseprint("uploading %s.." % childpath)
+        #self.verboseprint("uploading %s.." % quote_output(childpath))
         metadata = get_local_metadata(childpath)
 
         # we can use the backupdb here
         must_upload, bdb_results = self.check_backupdb_file(childpath)
 
         if must_upload:
-            self.verboseprint("uploading %s.." % childpath)
-            infileobj = open_unicode(os.path.expanduser(childpath), "rb")
+            self.verboseprint("uploading %s.." % quote_output(childpath))
+            infileobj = open_unicode(childpath, "rb")
             url = self.options['node-url'] + "uri"
             resp = do_http("PUT", url, infileobj)
             if resp.status not in (200, 201):
-                raiseHTTPError("Error during file PUT", resp)
+                raise HTTPError("Error during file PUT", resp)
+
             filecap = resp.read().strip()
-            self.verboseprint(" %s -> %s" % (childpath, filecap))
-            #self.verboseprint(" metadata: %s" % (metadata,))
+            self.verboseprint(" %s -> %s" % (quote_output(childpath, quotemarks=False),
+                                             quote_output(filecap, quotemarks=False)))
+            #self.verboseprint(" metadata: %s" % (quote_output(metadata, quotemarks=False),))
 
             if bdb_results:
                 bdb_results.did_upload(filecap)
@@ -316,7 +310,7 @@ class BackerUpper:
             return filecap, metadata
 
         else:
-            self.verboseprint("skipping %s.." % childpath)
+            self.verboseprint("skipping %s.." % quote_output(childpath))
             self.files_reused += 1
             return bdb_results.was_uploaded(), metadata
 
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_check.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_check.py
index 6fdd9013..7191c9da 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_check.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_check.py
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ import simplejson
 from twisted.protocols.basic import LineOnlyReceiver
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS, escape_path, \
                                      UnknownAliasError
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, format_http_error
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import quote_output, quote_path
 
 class Checker:
     pass
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ def check(options):
     try:
         rootcap, path = get_alias(options.aliases, where, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
     except UnknownAliasError, e:
-        print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+        e.display(stderr)
         return 1
     if path == '/':
         path = ''
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ def check(options):
 
     resp = do_http("POST", url)
     if resp.status != 200:
-        print >>stderr, "ERROR", resp.status, resp.reason, resp.read()
+        print >>stderr, format_http_error("ERROR", resp)
         return 1
     jdata = resp.read()
     if options.get("raw"):
@@ -108,12 +109,12 @@ class DeepCheckOutput(LineOnlyReceiver):
 
     def lineReceived(self, line):
         if self.in_error:
-            print >>self.stderr, line
+            print >>self.stderr, quote_output(line, quotemarks=False)
             return
         if line.startswith("ERROR:"):
             self.in_error = True
             self.streamer.rc = 1
-            print >>self.stderr, line
+            print >>self.stderr, quote_output(line, quotemarks=False)
             return
 
         d = simplejson.loads(line)
@@ -135,12 +136,8 @@ class DeepCheckOutput(LineOnlyReceiver):
             if not path:
                 path = ["<root>"]
             summary = cr.get("summary", "Healthy (LIT)")
-            try:
-                print >>stdout, "%s: %s" % ("/".join(path), summary)
-            except UnicodeEncodeError:
-                print >>stdout, "%s: %s" % ("/".join([p.encode("utf-8")
-                                                      for p in path]),
-                                            summary)
+            print >>stdout, "%s: %s" % (quote_path(path), summary)
+
         # always print out corrupt shares
         for shareloc in cr["results"].get("list-corrupt-shares", []):
             (serverid, storage_index, sharenum) = shareloc
@@ -174,12 +171,12 @@ class DeepCheckAndRepairOutput(LineOnlyReceiver):
 
     def lineReceived(self, line):
         if self.in_error:
-            print >>self.stderr, line
+            print >>self.stderr, quote_output(line, quotemarks=False)
             return
         if line.startswith("ERROR:"):
             self.in_error = True
             self.streamer.rc = 1
-            print >>self.stderr, line
+            print >>self.stderr, quote_output(line, quotemarks=False)
             return
 
         d = simplejson.loads(line)
@@ -221,12 +218,8 @@ class DeepCheckAndRepairOutput(LineOnlyReceiver):
                 summary = "healthy"
             else:
                 summary = "not healthy"
-            try:
-                print >>stdout, "%s: %s" % ("/".join(path), summary)
-            except UnicodeEncodeError:
-                print >>stdout, "%s: %s" % ("/".join([p.encode("utf-8")
-                                                      for p in path]),
-                                            summary)
+            print >>stdout, "%s: %s" % (quote_path(path), summary)
+
         # always print out corrupt shares
         prr = crr.get("pre-repair-results", {})
         for shareloc in prr.get("results", {}).get("list-corrupt-shares", []):
@@ -272,7 +265,7 @@ class DeepCheckStreamer(LineOnlyReceiver):
         try:
             rootcap, path = get_alias(options.aliases, where, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
         except UnknownAliasError, e:
-            print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+            e.display(stderr)
             return 1
         if path == '/':
             path = ''
@@ -292,7 +285,7 @@ class DeepCheckStreamer(LineOnlyReceiver):
             url += "&add-lease=true"
         resp = do_http("POST", url)
         if resp.status not in (200, 302):
-            print >>stderr, "ERROR", resp.status, resp.reason, resp.read()
+            print >>stderr, format_http_error("ERROR", resp)
             return 1
 
         # use Twisted to split this into lines
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_cp.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_cp.py
index 02790d08..2a264119 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_cp.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_cp.py
@@ -5,37 +5,38 @@ import simplejson
 from cStringIO import StringIO
 from twisted.python.failure import Failure
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, escape_path, \
-                                     DefaultAliasMarker, UnknownAliasError
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
+                                     DefaultAliasMarker, TahoeError
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, HTTPError
 from allmydata import uri
-from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_url, listdir_unicode, open_unicode
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_url, listdir_unicode, open_unicode, \
+    abspath_expanduser_unicode, quote_output, to_str
 from allmydata.util.assertutil import precondition
 
 
-def ascii_or_none(s):
-    if s is None:
-        return s
-    return str(s)
+def _put_local_file(pathname, inf):
+    # TODO: create temporary file and move into place?
+    # TODO: move this to fileutil.
+    outf = open_unicode(pathname, "wb")
+    try:
+        while True:
+            data = inf.read(32768)
+            if not data:
+                break
+            outf.write(data)
+    finally:
+        outf.close()
 
-class TahoeError(Exception):
-    def __init__(self, msg, resp):
-        self.msg = msg
-        self.status = resp.status
-        self.reason = resp.reason
-        self.body = resp.read()
 
-    def display(self, err):
-        print >>err, "%s: %s %s" % (self.msg, self.status, self.reason)
-        print >>err, self.body
+class MissingSourceError(TahoeError):
+    def __init__(self, name):
+        TahoeError.__init__("No such file or directory %s" % quote_output(name))
 
-class MissingSourceError(Exception):
-    pass
 
 def GET_to_file(url):
     resp = do_http("GET", url)
     if resp.status == 200:
         return resp
-    raise TahoeError("Error during GET", resp)
+    raise HTTPError("Error during GET", resp)
 
 def GET_to_string(url):
     f = GET_to_file(url)
@@ -45,20 +46,20 @@ def PUT(url, data):
     resp = do_http("PUT", url, data)
     if resp.status in (200, 201):
         return resp.read()
-    raise TahoeError("Error during PUT", resp)
+    raise HTTPError("Error during PUT", resp)
 
 def POST(url, data):
     resp = do_http("POST", url, data)
     if resp.status in (200, 201):
         return resp.read()
-    raise TahoeError("Error during POST", resp)
+    raise HTTPError("Error during POST", resp)
 
 def mkdir(targeturl):
     url = targeturl + "?t=mkdir"
     resp = do_http("POST", url)
     if resp.status in (200, 201):
         return resp.read().strip()
-    raise TahoeError("Error during mkdir", resp)
+    raise HTTPError("Error during mkdir", resp)
 
 def make_tahoe_subdirectory(nodeurl, parent_writecap, name):
     url = nodeurl + "/".join(["uri",
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ def make_tahoe_subdirectory(nodeurl, parent_writecap, name):
     resp = do_http("POST", url)
     if resp.status in (200, 201):
         return resp.read().strip()
-    raise TahoeError("Error during mkdir", resp)
+    raise HTTPError("Error during mkdir", resp)
 
 
 class LocalFileSource:
@@ -80,20 +81,17 @@ class LocalFileSource:
         return True
 
     def open(self, caps_only):
-        return open(self.pathname, "rb")
+        return open_unicode(self.pathname, "rb")
+
 
 class LocalFileTarget:
     def __init__(self, pathname):
         precondition(isinstance(pathname, unicode), pathname)
         self.pathname = pathname
+
     def put_file(self, inf):
-        outf = open(self.pathname, "wb")
-        while True:
-            data = inf.read(32768)
-            if not data:
-                break
-            outf.write(data)
-        outf.close()
+        _put_local_file(self.pathname, inf)
+
 
 class LocalMissingTarget:
     def __init__(self, pathname):
@@ -101,13 +99,8 @@ class LocalMissingTarget:
         self.pathname = pathname
 
     def put_file(self, inf):
-        outf = open(self.pathname, "wb")
-        while True:
-            data = inf.read(32768)
-            if not data:
-                break
-            outf.write(data)
-        outf.close()
+        _put_local_file(self.pathname, inf)
+
 
 class LocalDirectorySource:
     def __init__(self, progressfunc, pathname):
@@ -134,6 +127,7 @@ class LocalDirectorySource:
                 self.children[n] = LocalFileSource(pn)
             else:
                 # Could be dangling symlink; probably not copy-able.
+                # TODO: output a warning
                 pass
 
 class LocalDirectoryTarget:
@@ -151,6 +145,7 @@ class LocalDirectoryTarget:
         children = listdir_unicode(self.pathname)
         for i,n in enumerate(children):
             self.progressfunc("examining %d of %d" % (i, len(children)))
+            n = unicode(n)
             pn = os.path.join(self.pathname, n)
             if os.path.isdir(pn):
                 child = LocalDirectoryTarget(self.progressfunc, pn)
@@ -173,13 +168,7 @@ class LocalDirectoryTarget:
     def put_file(self, name, inf):
         precondition(isinstance(name, unicode), name)
         pathname = os.path.join(self.pathname, name)
-        outf = open_unicode(pathname, "wb")
-        while True:
-            data = inf.read(32768)
-            if not data:
-                break
-            outf.write(data)
-        outf.close()
+        _put_local_file(pathname, inf)
 
     def set_children(self):
         pass
@@ -238,7 +227,7 @@ class TahoeDirectorySource:
         url = self.nodeurl + "uri/%s" % urllib.quote(bestcap)
         resp = do_http("GET", url + "?t=json")
         if resp.status != 200:
-            raise TahoeError("Error examining source directory", resp)
+            raise HTTPError("Error examining source directory", resp)
         parsed = simplejson.loads(resp.read())
         nodetype, d = parsed
         assert nodetype == "dirnode"
@@ -250,8 +239,8 @@ class TahoeDirectorySource:
 
     def init_from_parsed(self, parsed):
         nodetype, d = parsed
-        self.writecap = ascii_or_none(d.get("rw_uri"))
-        self.readcap = ascii_or_none(d.get("ro_uri"))
+        self.writecap = to_str(d.get("rw_uri"))
+        self.readcap = to_str(d.get("ro_uri"))
         self.mutable = d.get("mutable", False) # older nodes don't provide it
         self.children_d = dict( [(unicode(name),value)
                                  for (name,value)
@@ -266,13 +255,13 @@ class TahoeDirectorySource:
             self.progressfunc("examining %d of %d" % (i, len(self.children_d)))
             if data[0] == "filenode":
                 mutable = data[1].get("mutable", False)
-                writecap = ascii_or_none(data[1].get("rw_uri"))
-                readcap = ascii_or_none(data[1].get("ro_uri"))
+                writecap = to_str(data[1].get("rw_uri"))
+                readcap = to_str(data[1].get("ro_uri"))
                 self.children[name] = TahoeFileSource(self.nodeurl, mutable,
                                                       writecap, readcap)
             elif data[0] == "dirnode":
-                writecap = ascii_or_none(data[1].get("rw_uri"))
-                readcap = ascii_or_none(data[1].get("ro_uri"))
+                writecap = to_str(data[1].get("rw_uri"))
+                readcap = to_str(data[1].get("ro_uri"))
                 if writecap and writecap in self.cache:
                     child = self.cache[writecap]
                 elif readcap and readcap in self.cache:
@@ -320,8 +309,8 @@ class TahoeDirectoryTarget:
 
     def init_from_parsed(self, parsed):
         nodetype, d = parsed
-        self.writecap = ascii_or_none(d.get("rw_uri"))
-        self.readcap = ascii_or_none(d.get("ro_uri"))
+        self.writecap = to_str(d.get("rw_uri"))
+        self.readcap = to_str(d.get("ro_uri"))
         self.mutable = d.get("mutable", False) # older nodes don't provide it
         self.children_d = dict( [(unicode(name),value)
                                  for (name,value)
@@ -335,7 +324,7 @@ class TahoeDirectoryTarget:
         url = self.nodeurl + "uri/%s" % urllib.quote(bestcap)
         resp = do_http("GET", url + "?t=json")
         if resp.status != 200:
-            raise TahoeError("Error examining target directory", resp)
+            raise HTTPError("Error examining target directory", resp)
         parsed = simplejson.loads(resp.read())
         nodetype, d = parsed
         assert nodetype == "dirnode"
@@ -360,8 +349,8 @@ class TahoeDirectoryTarget:
             self.progressfunc("examining %d of %d" % (i, len(self.children_d)))
             if data[0] == "filenode":
                 mutable = data[1].get("mutable", False)
-                writecap = ascii_or_none(data[1].get("rw_uri"))
-                readcap = ascii_or_none(data[1].get("ro_uri"))
+                writecap = to_str(data[1].get("rw_uri"))
+                readcap = to_str(data[1].get("ro_uri"))
                 url = None
                 if self.writecap:
                     url = self.nodeurl + "/".join(["uri",
@@ -370,8 +359,8 @@ class TahoeDirectoryTarget:
                 self.children[name] = TahoeFileTarget(self.nodeurl, mutable,
                                                       writecap, readcap, url)
             elif data[0] == "dirnode":
-                writecap = ascii_or_none(data[1].get("rw_uri"))
-                readcap = ascii_or_none(data[1].get("ro_uri"))
+                writecap = to_str(data[1].get("rw_uri"))
+                readcap = to_str(data[1].get("ro_uri"))
                 if writecap and writecap in self.cache:
                     child = self.cache[writecap]
                 elif readcap and readcap in self.cache:
@@ -466,8 +455,9 @@ class Copier:
             status = self.try_copy()
             return status
         except TahoeError, te:
-            Failure().printTraceback(self.stderr)
-            print >>self.stderr
+            if verbosity >= 2:
+                Failure().printTraceback(self.stderr)
+                print >>self.stderr
             te.display(self.stderr)
             return 1
 
@@ -476,23 +466,12 @@ class Copier:
         destination_spec = self.options.destination
         recursive = self.options["recursive"]
 
-        try:
-            target = self.get_target_info(destination_spec)
-        except UnknownAliasError, e:
-            self.to_stderr("error: %s" % e.args[0])
-            return 1
+        target = self.get_target_info(destination_spec)
 
-        try:
-            sources = [] # list of (name, source object)
-            for ss in source_specs:
-                name, source = self.get_source_info(ss)
-                sources.append( (name, source) )
-        except MissingSourceError, e:
-            self.to_stderr("No such file or directory %s" % e.args[0])
-            return 1
-        except UnknownAliasError, e:
-            self.to_stderr("error: %s" % e.args[0])
-            return 1
+        sources = [] # list of (name, source object)
+        for ss in source_specs:
+            name, source = self.get_source_info(ss)
+            sources.append( (name, source) )
 
         have_source_dirs = bool([s for (name,s) in sources
                                  if isinstance(s, (LocalDirectorySource,
@@ -506,7 +485,7 @@ class Copier:
             # cp STUFF foo.txt, where foo.txt already exists. This limits the
             # possibilities considerably.
             if len(sources) > 1:
-                self.to_stderr("target '%s' is not a directory" % destination_spec)
+                self.to_stderr("target %s is not a directory" % quote_output(destination_spec))
                 return 1
             if have_source_dirs:
                 self.to_stderr("cannot copy directory into a file")
@@ -546,7 +525,7 @@ class Copier:
         rootcap, path = get_alias(self.aliases, destination_spec, None)
         if rootcap == DefaultAliasMarker:
             # no alias, so this is a local file
-            pathname = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(path))
+            pathname = abspath_expanduser_unicode(path.decode('utf-8'))
             if not os.path.exists(pathname):
                 t = LocalMissingTarget(pathname)
             elif os.path.isdir(pathname):
@@ -572,21 +551,21 @@ class Copier:
                                              self.progress)
                     t.init_from_parsed(parsed)
                 else:
-                    writecap = ascii_or_none(d.get("rw_uri"))
-                    readcap = ascii_or_none(d.get("ro_uri"))
+                    writecap = to_str(d.get("rw_uri"))
+                    readcap = to_str(d.get("ro_uri"))
                     mutable = d.get("mutable", False)
                     t = TahoeFileTarget(self.nodeurl, mutable,
                                         writecap, readcap, url)
             else:
-                raise TahoeError("Error examining target '%s'"
-                                 % destination_spec, resp)
+                raise HTTPError("Error examining target %s"
+                                 % quote_output(destination_spec), resp)
         return t
 
     def get_source_info(self, source_spec):
         rootcap, path = get_alias(self.aliases, source_spec, None)
         if rootcap == DefaultAliasMarker:
             # no alias, so this is a local file
-            pathname = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(path))
+            pathname = abspath_expanduser_unicode(path.decode('utf-8'))
             name = os.path.basename(pathname)
             if not os.path.exists(pathname):
                 raise MissingSourceError(source_spec)
@@ -610,8 +589,8 @@ class Copier:
             if resp.status == 404:
                 raise MissingSourceError(source_spec)
             elif resp.status != 200:
-                raise TahoeError("Error examining source '%s'" % source_spec,
-                                 resp)
+                raise HTTPError("Error examining source %s" % quote_output(source_spec),
+                                resp)
             parsed = simplejson.loads(resp.read())
             nodetype, d = parsed
             if nodetype == "dirnode":
@@ -619,8 +598,8 @@ class Copier:
                                          self.progress)
                 t.init_from_parsed(parsed)
             else:
-                writecap = ascii_or_none(d.get("rw_uri"))
-                readcap = ascii_or_none(d.get("ro_uri"))
+                writecap = to_str(d.get("rw_uri"))
+                readcap = to_str(d.get("ro_uri"))
                 mutable = d.get("mutable", False) # older nodes don't provide it
                 if source_spec.rfind('/') != -1:
                     name = source_spec[source_spec.rfind('/')+1:]
@@ -630,7 +609,7 @@ class Copier:
 
     def dump_graph(self, s, indent=" "):
         for name, child in s.children.items():
-            print indent + name + ":" + str(child)
+            print "%s%s: %r" % (indent, quote_output(name), child)
             if isinstance(child, (LocalDirectorySource, TahoeDirectorySource)):
                 self.dump_graph(child, indent+"  ")
 
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_get.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_get.py
index 5b709569..dfc36644 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_get.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_get.py
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 import urllib
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS, escape_path, \
                                      UnknownAliasError
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, format_http_error
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import open_unicode
 
 def get(options):
     nodeurl = options['node-url']
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ def get(options):
     try:
         rootcap, path = get_alias(aliases, from_file, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
     except UnknownAliasError, e:
-        print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+        e.display(stderr)
         return 1
     url = nodeurl + "uri/%s" % urllib.quote(rootcap)
     if path:
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ def get(options):
     resp = do_http("GET", url)
     if resp.status in (200, 201,):
         if to_file:
-            outf = open(to_file, "wb")
+            outf = open_unicode(to_file, "wb")
         else:
             outf = stdout
         while True:
@@ -38,8 +39,7 @@ def get(options):
             outf.close()
         rc = 0
     else:
-        print >>stderr, "Error, got %s %s" % (resp.status, resp.reason)
-        print >>stderr, resp.read()
+        print >>stderr, format_http_error("Error during GET", resp)
         rc = 1
 
     return rc
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_ls.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_ls.py
index 4e42f2fb..d7c7ef83 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_ls.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_ls.py
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ import urllib, time
 import simplejson
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS, escape_path, \
                                      UnknownAliasError
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
-from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_stdout
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, format_http_error
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_output, quote_output, is_printable_ascii, to_str
 
 def list(options):
     nodeurl = options['node-url']
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ def list(options):
     try:
         rootcap, path = get_alias(aliases, where, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
     except UnknownAliasError, e:
-        print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+        e.display(stderr)
         return 1
     url = nodeurl + "uri/%s" % urllib.quote(rootcap)
     if path:
@@ -33,9 +33,7 @@ def list(options):
         print >>stderr, "No such file or directory"
         return 2
     if resp.status != 200:
-        print >>stderr, "Error during GET: %s %s %s" % (resp.status,
-                                                        resp.reason,
-                                                        resp.read())
+        print >>stderr, format_http_error("Error during GET", resp)
         if resp.status == 0:
             return 3
         else:
@@ -44,20 +42,28 @@ def list(options):
     data = resp.read()
 
     if options['json']:
-        print >>stdout, data
-        return
+        # The webapi server should always output printable ASCII.
+        if is_printable_ascii(data):
+            print >>stdout, data
+            return 0
+        else:
+            print >>stderr, "The JSON response contained unprintable characters:\n%s" % quote_output(data)
+            return 1
 
     try:
         parsed = simplejson.loads(data)
-    except Exception, le:
-        le.args = tuple(le.args + (data,))
-        raise
+    except Exception, e:
+        print >>stderr, "error: %s" % quote_output(e.args[0], quotemarks=False)
+        print >>stderr, "Could not parse JSON response:\n%s" % quote_output(data)
+        return 1
+
     nodetype, d = parsed
     children = {}
     if nodetype == "dirnode":
         children = d['children']
     else:
-        childname = path.split("/")[-1]
+        # paths returned from get_alias are always valid UTF-8
+        childname = path.split("/")[-1].decode('utf-8')
         children = {childname: (nodetype, d)}
         if "metadata" not in d:
             d["metadata"] = {}
@@ -71,8 +77,8 @@ def list(options):
     has_unknowns = False
 
     for name in childnames:
-        name = unicode(name)
         child = children[name]
+        name = unicode(name)
         childtype = child[0]
 
         # See webapi.txt for a discussion of the meanings of unix local
@@ -85,8 +91,8 @@ def list(options):
         mtime = child[1].get("metadata", {}).get('tahoe', {}).get("linkmotime")
         if not mtime:
             mtime = child[1]["metadata"].get("mtime")
-        rw_uri = child[1].get("rw_uri")
-        ro_uri = child[1].get("ro_uri")
+        rw_uri = to_str(child[1].get("rw_uri"))
+        ro_uri = to_str(child[1].get("ro_uri"))
         if ctime:
             # match for formatting that GNU 'ls' does
             if (now - ctime) > 6*30*24*60*60:
@@ -131,17 +137,24 @@ def list(options):
             line.append(ctime_s)
         if not options["classify"]:
             classify = ""
-        line.append(unicode_to_stdout(name) + classify)
+
+        encoding_error = False
+        try:
+            line.append(unicode_to_output(name) + classify)
+        except UnicodeEncodeError:
+            encoding_error = True
+            line.append(quote_output(name) + classify)
+
         if options["uri"]:
             line.append(uri)
         if options["readonly-uri"]:
-            line.append(ro_uri or "-")
+            line.append(quote_output(ro_uri or "-", quotemarks=False))
 
-        rows.append(line)
+        rows.append((encoding_error, line))
 
     max_widths = []
     left_justifys = []
-    for row in rows:
+    for (encoding_error, row) in rows:
         for i,cell in enumerate(row):
             while len(max_widths) <= i:
                 max_widths.append(0)
@@ -161,14 +174,20 @@ def list(options):
         piece += "s"
         fmt_pieces.append(piece)
     fmt = " ".join(fmt_pieces)
-    for row in rows:
-        print >>stdout, (fmt % tuple(row)).rstrip()
+    
+    rc = 0
+    for (encoding_error, row) in rows:
+        if encoding_error:
+            print >>stderr, (fmt % tuple(row)).rstrip()
+            rc = 1
+        else:
+            print >>stdout, (fmt % tuple(row)).rstrip()
 
+    if rc == 1:
+        print >>stderr, "\nThis listing included files whose names could not be converted to the terminal" \
+                        "\noutput encoding. Their names are shown using backslash escapes and in quotes."
     if has_unknowns:
         print >>stderr, "\nThis listing included unknown objects. Using a webapi server that supports" \
                         "\na later version of Tahoe may help."
 
-    return 0
-
-# error cases that need improvement:
-#  list-one-file: tahoe ls my:docs/Makefile
+    return rc
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_manifest.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_manifest.py
index 88a578a9..db422082 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_manifest.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_manifest.py
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ from allmydata.util.abbreviate import abbreviate_space_both
 from allmydata.scripts.slow_operation import SlowOperationRunner
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS, escape_path, \
                                      UnknownAliasError
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
-from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_stdout
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, format_http_error
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import quote_output, quote_path
 
 class FakeTransport:
     disconnecting = False
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class ManifestStreamer(LineOnlyReceiver):
         try:
             rootcap, path = get_alias(options.aliases, where, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
         except UnknownAliasError, e:
-            print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+            e.display(stderr)
             return 1
         if path == '/':
             path = ''
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ class ManifestStreamer(LineOnlyReceiver):
         url += "?t=stream-manifest"
         resp = do_http("POST", url)
         if resp.status not in (200, 302):
-            print >>stderr, "ERROR", resp.status, resp.reason, resp.read()
+            print >>stderr, format_http_error("ERROR", resp)
             return 1
         #print "RESP", dir(resp)
         # use Twisted to split this into lines
@@ -60,31 +60,35 @@ class ManifestStreamer(LineOnlyReceiver):
         stdout = self.options.stdout
         stderr = self.options.stderr
         if self.in_error:
-            print >>stderr, line
+            print >>stderr, quote_output(line, quotemarks=False)
             return
         if line.startswith("ERROR:"):
             self.in_error = True
             self.rc = 1
-            print >>stderr, line
+            print >>stderr, quote_output(line, quotemarks=False)
             return
 
-        d = simplejson.loads(line.decode('utf-8'))
-        if d["type"] in ("file", "directory"):
-            if self.options["storage-index"]:
-                si = d["storage-index"]
-                if si:
-                    print >>stdout, si
-            elif self.options["verify-cap"]:
-                vc = d["verifycap"]
-                if vc:
-                    print >>stdout, vc
-            elif self.options["repair-cap"]:
-                vc = d["repaircap"]
-                if vc:
-                    print >>stdout, vc
-            else:
-                print >>stdout, d["cap"], "/".join([unicode_to_stdout(p)
-                                                        for p in d["path"]])
+        try:
+            d = simplejson.loads(line.decode('utf-8'))
+        except Exception, e:
+            print >>stderr, "ERROR could not decode/parse %s\nERROR  %r" % (quote_output(line), e)
+        else:
+            if d["type"] in ("file", "directory"):
+                if self.options["storage-index"]:
+                    si = d.get("storage-index", None)
+                    if si:
+                        print >>stdout, quote_output(si, quotemarks=False)
+                elif self.options["verify-cap"]:
+                    vc = d.get("verifycap", None)
+                    if vc:
+                        print >>stdout, quote_output(vc, quotemarks=False)
+                elif self.options["repair-cap"]:
+                    vc = d.get("repaircap", None)
+                    if vc:
+                        print >>stdout, quote_output(vc, quotemarks=False)
+                else:
+                    print >>stdout, "%s %s" % (quote_output(d["cap"], quotemarks=False),
+                                               quote_path(d["path"], quotemarks=False))
 
 def manifest(options):
     return ManifestStreamer().run(options)
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_mkdir.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_mkdir.py
index cc4b0688..7ff8a99a 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_mkdir.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_mkdir.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import urllib
 from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, check_http_error
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS, UnknownAliasError
-from allmydata.util.stringutils import unicode_to_url
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import quote_output
 
 def mkdir(options):
     nodeurl = options['node-url']
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ def mkdir(options):
         try:
             rootcap, path = get_alias(aliases, where, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
         except UnknownAliasError, e:
-            print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+            e.display(stderr)
             return 1
 
     if not where or not path:
@@ -28,17 +28,17 @@ def mkdir(options):
             return rc
         new_uri = resp.read().strip()
         # emit its write-cap
-        print >>stdout, new_uri
+        print >>stdout, quote_output(new_uri, quotemarks=False)
         return 0
 
     # create a new directory at the given location
     if path.endswith("/"):
         path = path[:-1]
-    # path (in argv) must be "/".join([s.encode("utf-8") for s in segments])
+    # path must be "/".join([s.encode("utf-8") for s in segments])
     url = nodeurl + "uri/%s/%s?t=mkdir" % (urllib.quote(rootcap),
-                                           urllib.quote(unicode_to_url(path)))
+                                           urllib.quote(path))
     resp = do_http("POST", url)
     check_http_error(resp, stderr)
     new_uri = resp.read().strip()
-    print >>stdout, new_uri
+    print >>stdout, quote_output(new_uri, quotemarks=False)
     return 0
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_mv.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_mv.py
index 208b720e..d336d804 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_mv.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_mv.py
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ import urllib
 import simplejson
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS, escape_path, \
                                      UnknownAliasError
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, format_http_error
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import to_str
 
 # this script is used for both 'mv' and 'ln'
 
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ def mv(options, mode="move"):
     try:
         rootcap, from_path = get_alias(aliases, from_file, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
     except UnknownAliasError, e:
-        print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+        e.display(stderr)
         return 1
     from_url = nodeurl + "uri/%s" % urllib.quote(rootcap)
     if from_path:
@@ -29,16 +30,13 @@ def mv(options, mode="move"):
     # figure out the source cap
     data = urllib.urlopen(from_url + "?t=json").read()
     nodetype, attrs = simplejson.loads(data)
-    cap = attrs.get("rw_uri") or attrs["ro_uri"]
-    # simplejson sometimes returns unicode, but we know that it's really just
-    # an ASCII file-cap.
-    cap = str(cap)
+    cap = to_str(attrs.get("rw_uri") or attrs["ro_uri"])
 
     # now get the target
     try:
         rootcap, path = get_alias(aliases, to_file, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
     except UnknownAliasError, e:
-        print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+        e.display(stderr)
         return 1
     to_url = nodeurl + "uri/%s" % urllib.quote(rootcap)
     if path:
@@ -56,18 +54,17 @@ def mv(options, mode="move"):
         if status == 409:
             print >>stderr, "Error: You can't overwrite a directory with a file"
         else:
-            print >>stderr, "error, got %s %s" % (resp.status, resp.reason)
-            print >>stderr, resp.read()
+            print >>stderr, format_http_error("Error", resp)
             if mode == "move":
                 print >>stderr, "NOT removing the original"
-        return
+        return 1
 
     if mode == "move":
         # now remove the original
         resp = do_http("DELETE", from_url)
         if not re.search(r'^2\d\d$', str(status)):
-            print >>stderr, "error, got %s %s" % (resp.status, resp.reason)
-            print >>stderr, resp.read()
+            print >>stderr, format_http_error("Error deleting original after move", resp)
+            return 2
 
     print >>stdout, "OK"
-    return
+    return 0
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_put.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_put.py
index 24a7e3ef..82a9e4cc 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_put.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_put.py
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 
 from cStringIO import StringIO
-import os.path
 import urllib
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, format_http_success, format_http_error
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS, escape_path, \
                                      UnknownAliasError
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import quote_output, open_unicode
 
 def put(options):
     """
@@ -48,12 +48,12 @@ def put(options):
             try:
                 rootcap, path = get_alias(aliases, to_file, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
             except UnknownAliasError, e:
-                print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+                e.display(stderr)
                 return 1
             if path.startswith("/"):
-                suggestion = to_file.replace("/", "", 1)
-                print >>stderr, "ERROR: The remote filename must not start with a slash"
-                print >>stderr, "Please try again, perhaps with:", suggestion
+                suggestion = to_file.replace(u"/", u"", 1)
+                print >>stderr, "Error: The remote filename must not start with a slash"
+                print >>stderr, "Please try again, perhaps with %s" % quote_output(suggestion)
                 return 1
             url = nodeurl + "uri/%s/" % urllib.quote(rootcap)
             if path:
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def put(options):
     if mutable:
         url += "?mutable=true"
     if from_file:
-        infileobj = open(os.path.expanduser(from_file), "rb")
+        infileobj = open_unicode(from_file, "rb")
     else:
         # do_http() can't use stdin directly: for one thing, we need a
         # Content-Length field. So we currently must copy it.
@@ -76,10 +76,9 @@ def put(options):
     resp = do_http("PUT", url, infileobj)
 
     if resp.status in (200, 201,):
-        print >>stderr, "%s %s" % (resp.status, resp.reason)
-        print >>stdout, resp.read()
+        print >>stderr, format_http_success(resp)
+        print >>stdout, quote_output(resp.read(), quotemarks=False)
         return 0
 
-    print >>stderr, "error, got %s %s" % (resp.status, resp.reason)
-    print >>stderr, resp.read()
+    print >>stderr, format_http_error("Error", resp)
     return 1
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_rm.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_rm.py
index ba557b36..3b133d08 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_rm.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_rm.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 
 import urllib
-from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http
+from allmydata.scripts.common_http import do_http, format_http_success, format_http_error
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_alias, DEFAULT_ALIAS, escape_path, \
                                      UnknownAliasError
 
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ def rm(options):
     try:
         rootcap, path = get_alias(aliases, where, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
     except UnknownAliasError, e:
-        print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+        e.display(stderr)
         return 1
     assert path
     url = nodeurl + "uri/%s" % urllib.quote(rootcap)
@@ -28,9 +28,8 @@ def rm(options):
     resp = do_http("DELETE", url)
 
     if resp.status in (200,):
-        print >>stdout, "%s %s" % (resp.status, resp.reason)
+        print >>stdout, format_http_success(resp)
         return 0
 
-    print >>stderr, "error, got %s %s" % (resp.status, resp.reason)
-    print >>stderr, resp.read()
+    print >>stderr, format_http_error("ERROR", resp)
     return 1
diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_webopen.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_webopen.py
index 891d8db0..03500dc7 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_webopen.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe_webopen.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ def webopen(options, opener=None):
         try:
             rootcap, path = get_alias(options.aliases, where, DEFAULT_ALIAS)
         except UnknownAliasError, e:
-            print >>stderr, "error: %s" % e.args[0]
+            e.display(stderr)
             return 1
         if path == '/':
             path = ''
diff --git a/src/allmydata/test/common_util.py b/src/allmydata/test/common_util.py
index 0b7b919d..41361671 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/test/common_util.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/test/common_util.py
@@ -25,6 +25,13 @@ def flip_one_bit(s, offset=0, size=None):
     assert result != s, "Internal error -- flip_one_bit() produced the same string as its input: %s == %s" % (result, s)
     return result
 
+
+class ReallyEqualMixin:
+    def failUnlessReallyEqual(self, a, b, msg=None):
+        self.failUnlessEqual(a, b, msg=msg)
+        self.failUnlessEqual(type(a), type(b), msg=msg)
+
+
 class SignalMixin:
     # This class is necessary for any code which wants to use Processes
     # outside the usual reactor.run() environment. It is copied from
@@ -131,7 +138,7 @@ class TestMixin(SignalMixin):
             if p.active():
                 p.cancel()
             else:
-                print "WEIRNESS! pending timed call not active+!"
+                print "WEIRDNESS! pending timed call not active!"
         if required_to_quiesce and active:
             self.fail("Reactor was still active when it was required to be quiescent.")
 
diff --git a/src/allmydata/test/test_cli.py b/src/allmydata/test/test_cli.py
index 8d8e954f..76d1f115 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/test/test_cli.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/test/test_cli.py
@@ -3,41 +3,68 @@
 import os.path
 from twisted.trial import unittest
 from cStringIO import StringIO
-import locale, urllib, re, sys
+import urllib, re
 import simplejson
 
-from allmydata.util import fileutil, hashutil, base32, stringutils
+from allmydata.util import fileutil, hashutil, base32
 from allmydata import uri
 from allmydata.immutable import upload
 
 # Test that the scripts can be imported -- although the actual tests of their
 # functionality are done by invoking them in a subprocess.
-from allmydata.scripts import tahoe_ls, tahoe_get, tahoe_put, tahoe_rm, tahoe_cp
-_hush_pyflakes = [tahoe_ls, tahoe_get, tahoe_put, tahoe_rm, tahoe_cp]
+from allmydata.scripts import create_node, debug, keygen, startstop_node, \
+    tahoe_add_alias, tahoe_backup, tahoe_check, tahoe_cp, tahoe_get, tahoe_ls, \
+    tahoe_manifest, tahoe_mkdir, tahoe_mv, tahoe_put, tahoe_rm, tahoe_webopen
+_hush_pyflakes = [create_node, debug, keygen, startstop_node,
+    tahoe_add_alias, tahoe_backup, tahoe_check, tahoe_cp, tahoe_get, tahoe_ls,
+    tahoe_manifest, tahoe_mkdir, tahoe_mv, tahoe_put, tahoe_rm, tahoe_webopen]
 
 from allmydata.scripts import common
 from allmydata.scripts.common import DEFAULT_ALIAS, get_aliases, get_alias, \
      DefaultAliasMarker
 
 from allmydata.scripts import cli, debug, runner, backupdb
-from allmydata.test.common_util import StallMixin
+from allmydata.test.common_util import StallMixin, ReallyEqualMixin
 from allmydata.test.no_network import GridTestMixin
 from twisted.internet import threads # CLI tests use deferToThread
 from twisted.python import usage
 
-from allmydata.util.stringutils import listdir_unicode, unicode_platform, FilenameEncodingError
+from allmydata.util.assertutil import precondition
+from allmydata.util.stringutils import listdir_unicode, open_unicode, unicode_platform, \
+    quote_output, get_output_encoding, get_argv_encoding, get_filesystem_encoding, \
+    unicode_to_output, FilenameEncodingError
 
 timeout = 480 # deep_check takes 360s on Zandr's linksys box, others take > 240s
 
-def skip_non_unicode_fs():
-    if sys.getfilesystemencoding().lower() not in ('utf-8', 'mbcs', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig',):
-        raise unittest.SkipTest("Arbitrary filenames are not supported by this platform")
 
-def skip_non_unicode_stdout():
-    if stringutils.get_term_encoding().lower() not in ('utf-8', 'mbcs', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig',):
-        raise unittest.SkipTest("Arbitrary command-line arguments (argv) are not supported by this platform")
+class CLITestMixin(ReallyEqualMixin):
+    def do_cli(self, verb, *args, **kwargs):
+        nodeargs = [
+            "--node-directory", self.get_clientdir(),
+            ]
+        argv = [verb] + nodeargs + list(args)
+        stdin = kwargs.get("stdin", "")
+        stdout, stderr = StringIO(), StringIO()
+        d = threads.deferToThread(runner.runner, argv, run_by_human=False,
+                                  stdin=StringIO(stdin),
+                                  stdout=stdout, stderr=stderr)
+        def _done(rc):
+            return rc, stdout.getvalue(), stderr.getvalue()
+        d.addCallback(_done)
+        return d
+
+    def skip_if_cannot_represent_filename(self, u):
+        precondition(isinstance(u, unicode))
 
-class CLI(unittest.TestCase):
+        enc = get_filesystem_encoding()
+        if not unicode_platform():
+            try:
+                u.encode(enc)
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                raise unittest.SkipTest("A non-ASCII filename %r could not be encoded as %s" (u, enc))
+
+
+class CLI(CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
     # this test case only looks at argument-processing and simple stuff.
     def test_options(self):
         fileutil.rm_dir("cli/test_options")
@@ -50,23 +77,23 @@ class CLI(unittest.TestCase):
         fileutil.write("cli/test_options/private/root_dir.cap", private_uri + "\n")
         o = cli.ListOptions()
         o.parseOptions(["--node-directory", "cli/test_options"])
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o['node-url'], "http://localhost:8080/")
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], private_uri)
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.where, "")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o['node-url'], "http://localhost:8080/")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], private_uri)
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.where, u"")
 
         o = cli.ListOptions()
         o.parseOptions(["--node-directory", "cli/test_options",
                         "--node-url", "http://example.org:8111/"])
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o['node-url'], "http://example.org:8111/")
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], private_uri)
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.where, "")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o['node-url'], "http://example.org:8111/")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], private_uri)
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.where, u"")
 
         o = cli.ListOptions()
         o.parseOptions(["--node-directory", "cli/test_options",
                         "--dir-cap", "root"])
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o['node-url'], "http://localhost:8080/")
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], "root")
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.where, "")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o['node-url'], "http://localhost:8080/")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], "root")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.where, u"")
 
         o = cli.ListOptions()
         other_filenode_uri = uri.WriteableSSKFileURI(writekey="\x11"*16,
@@ -74,16 +101,16 @@ class CLI(unittest.TestCase):
         other_uri = uri.DirectoryURI(other_filenode_uri).to_string()
         o.parseOptions(["--node-directory", "cli/test_options",
                         "--dir-cap", other_uri])
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o['node-url'], "http://localhost:8080/")
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], other_uri)
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.where, "")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o['node-url'], "http://localhost:8080/")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], other_uri)
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.where, u"")
 
         o = cli.ListOptions()
         o.parseOptions(["--node-directory", "cli/test_options",
                         "--dir-cap", other_uri, "subdir"])
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o['node-url'], "http://localhost:8080/")
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], other_uri)
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o.where, "subdir")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o['node-url'], "http://localhost:8080/")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.aliases[DEFAULT_ALIAS], other_uri)
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o.where, u"subdir")
 
         o = cli.ListOptions()
         self.failUnlessRaises(usage.UsageError,
@@ -94,12 +121,12 @@ class CLI(unittest.TestCase):
         o = cli.ListOptions()
         o.parseOptions(["--node-directory", "cli/test_options",
                         "--node-url", "http://localhost:8080"])
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o["node-url"], "http://localhost:8080/")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o["node-url"], "http://localhost:8080/")
 
         o = cli.ListOptions()
         o.parseOptions(["--node-directory", "cli/test_options",
                         "--node-url", "https://localhost/"])
-        self.failUnlessEqual(o["node-url"], "https://localhost/")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(o["node-url"], "https://localhost/")
 
     def _dump_cap(self, *args):
         config = debug.DumpCapOptions()
@@ -275,7 +302,7 @@ class CLI(unittest.TestCase):
 
         # now make sure that the 'catalog-shares' commands survives the error
         out, err = self._catalog_shares(nodedir1, nodedir2)
-        self.failUnlessEqual(out, "", out)
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "", out)
         self.failUnless("Error processing " in err,
                         "didn't see 'error processing' in '%s'" % err)
         #self.failUnless(nodedir1 in err,
@@ -294,63 +321,63 @@ class CLI(unittest.TestCase):
         def ga1(path):
             return get_alias(aliases, path, u"tahoe")
         uses_lettercolon = common.platform_uses_lettercolon_drivename()
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("bare"), ("TA", "bare"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("baredir/file"), ("TA", "baredir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("baredir/file:7"), ("TA", "baredir/file:7"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("tahoe:"), ("TA", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("tahoe:file"), ("TA", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("tahoe:dir/file"), ("TA", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("work:"), ("WA", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("work:file"), ("WA", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("work:dir/file"), ("WA", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"bare"), ("TA", "bare"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"baredir/file"), ("TA", "baredir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"baredir/file:7"), ("TA", "baredir/file:7"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"tahoe:"), ("TA", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"tahoe:file"), ("TA", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"tahoe:dir/file"), ("TA", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"work:"), ("WA", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"work:file"), ("WA", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"work:dir/file"), ("WA", "dir/file"))
         # default != None means we really expect a tahoe path, regardless of
         # whether we're on windows or not. This is what 'tahoe get' uses.
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("c:"), ("CA", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("c:file"), ("CA", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("c:dir/file"), ("CA", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("URI:stuff"), ("URI:stuff", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("URI:stuff/file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("URI:stuff:./file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("URI:stuff/dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga1("URI:stuff:./dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga1, "missing:")
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga1, "missing:dir")
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga1, "missing:dir/file")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"c:"), ("CA", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"c:file"), ("CA", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"c:dir/file"), ("CA", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"URI:stuff"), ("URI:stuff", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"URI:stuff/file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"URI:stuff:./file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"URI:stuff/dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga1(u"URI:stuff:./dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga1, u"missing:")
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga1, u"missing:dir")
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga1, u"missing:dir/file")
 
         def ga2(path):
             return get_alias(aliases, path, None)
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("bare"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "bare"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("baredir/file"),
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"bare"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "bare"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"baredir/file"),
                              (DefaultAliasMarker, "baredir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("baredir/file:7"),
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"baredir/file:7"),
                              (DefaultAliasMarker, "baredir/file:7"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("baredir/sub:1/file:7"),
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"baredir/sub:1/file:7"),
                              (DefaultAliasMarker, "baredir/sub:1/file:7"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("tahoe:"), ("TA", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("tahoe:file"), ("TA", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("tahoe:dir/file"), ("TA", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"tahoe:"), ("TA", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"tahoe:file"), ("TA", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"tahoe:dir/file"), ("TA", "dir/file"))
         # on windows, we really want c:foo to indicate a local file.
         # default==None is what 'tahoe cp' uses.
         if uses_lettercolon:
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("c:"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("c:file"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:file"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("c:dir/file"),
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"c:"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"c:file"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:file"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"c:dir/file"),
                                  (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:dir/file"))
         else:
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("c:"), ("CA", ""))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("c:file"), ("CA", "file"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("c:dir/file"), ("CA", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("work:"), ("WA", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("work:file"), ("WA", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("work:dir/file"), ("WA", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("URI:stuff"), ("URI:stuff", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("URI:stuff/file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("URI:stuff:./file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("URI:stuff/dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga2("URI:stuff:./dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga2, "missing:")
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga2, "missing:dir")
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga2, "missing:dir/file")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"c:"), ("CA", ""))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"c:file"), ("CA", "file"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"c:dir/file"), ("CA", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"work:"), ("WA", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"work:file"), ("WA", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"work:dir/file"), ("WA", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"URI:stuff"), ("URI:stuff", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"URI:stuff/file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"URI:stuff:./file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"URI:stuff/dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga2(u"URI:stuff:./dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga2, u"missing:")
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga2, u"missing:dir")
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga2, u"missing:dir/file")
 
         def ga3(path):
             old = common.pretend_platform_uses_lettercolon
@@ -360,36 +387,36 @@ class CLI(unittest.TestCase):
             finally:
                 common.pretend_platform_uses_lettercolon = old
             return retval
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("bare"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "bare"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("baredir/file"),
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"bare"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "bare"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"baredir/file"),
                              (DefaultAliasMarker, "baredir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("baredir/file:7"),
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"baredir/file:7"),
                              (DefaultAliasMarker, "baredir/file:7"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("baredir/sub:1/file:7"),
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"baredir/sub:1/file:7"),
                              (DefaultAliasMarker, "baredir/sub:1/file:7"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("tahoe:"), ("TA", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("tahoe:file"), ("TA", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("tahoe:dir/file"), ("TA", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("c:"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("c:file"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("c:dir/file"),
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"tahoe:"), ("TA", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"tahoe:file"), ("TA", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"tahoe:dir/file"), ("TA", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"c:"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"c:file"), (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"c:dir/file"),
                              (DefaultAliasMarker, "c:dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("work:"), ("WA", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("work:file"), ("WA", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("work:dir/file"), ("WA", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("URI:stuff"), ("URI:stuff", ""))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("URI:stuff:./file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
-        self.failUnlessEqual(ga3("URI:stuff:./dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga3, "missing:")
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga3, "missing:dir")
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga3, "missing:dir/file")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"work:"), ("WA", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"work:file"), ("WA", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"work:dir/file"), ("WA", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"URI:stuff"), ("URI:stuff", ""))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"URI:stuff:./file"), ("URI:stuff", "file"))
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ga3(u"URI:stuff:./dir/file"), ("URI:stuff", "dir/file"))
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga3, u"missing:")
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga3, u"missing:dir")
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga3, u"missing:dir/file")
         # calling get_alias with a path that doesn't include an alias and
         # default set to something that isn't in the aliases argument should
         # raise an UnknownAliasError.
         def ga4(path):
             return get_alias(aliases, path, u"badddefault:")
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga4, "afile")
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga4, "a/dir/path/")
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga4, u"afile")
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga4, u"a/dir/path/")
 
         def ga5(path):
             old = common.pretend_platform_uses_lettercolon
@@ -399,48 +426,52 @@ class CLI(unittest.TestCase):
             finally:
                 common.pretend_platform_uses_lettercolon = old
             return retval
-        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga5, "C:\\Windows")
+        self.failUnlessRaises(common.UnknownAliasError, ga5, u"C:\\Windows")
 
     def test_listdir_unicode_good(self):
-        files = (u'Lôzane', u'Bern', u'Genève')
-        enc = sys.getfilesystemencoding() or 'ascii'
+        filenames = [u'Lôzane', u'Bern', u'Genève']
 
-        # Ensure that our test filenames can actually be represented by the
-        # current filesystem encoding
-        try:
-            [f.encode(enc) for f in files]
-        except UnicodeEncodeError:
-            raise unittest.SkipTest("Cannot represent non-ASCII filenames on this filesystem")
+        for name in filenames:
+            self.skip_if_cannot_represent_filename(name)
 
-        basedir = u"cli/common/listdir_unicode_good"
+        basedir = "cli/common/listdir_unicode_good"
         fileutil.make_dirs(basedir)
 
-        for file in files:
-            open(os.path.join(basedir, file), "w").close()
+        for name in filenames:
+            open_unicode(os.path.join(unicode(basedir), name), "wb").close()
 
-        for file in listdir_unicode(basedir):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(file in files, True)
+        for file in listdir_unicode(unicode(basedir)):
+            self.failUnlessIn(file, filenames)
 
     def test_listdir_unicode_bad(self):
-        if unicode_platform():
-            raise unittest.SkipTest("This test doesn't make any sense on architecture which handle filenames natively as Unicode entities.")
-
-        basedir = u"cli/common/listdir_unicode_bad"
+        basedir = "cli/common/listdir_unicode_bad"
         fileutil.make_dirs(basedir)
 
-        files = (u'Lôzane', u'Bern', u'Genève')
+        filenames = [name.encode('latin1') for name in [u'Lôzane', u'Bern', u'Genève']]
+        enc = get_filesystem_encoding()
+        def is_decodable(u):
+            try:
+                u.decode(enc)
+                return True
+            except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                return False
 
-        # We use a wrong encoding on purpose
-        if sys.getfilesystemencoding() == 'UTF-8':
-            encoding = 'latin1'
-        else:
-            encoding = 'UTF-8'
+        if all(map(is_decodable, filenames)):
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("To perform this test, we must know a filename that is "
+                                    "not decodable in the platform's filesystem encoding.")
 
-        for file in files:
-            path = os.path.join(basedir, file).encode(encoding)
-            open(path, "w").close()
+        try:
+            for name in filenames:
+                path = os.path.join(basedir, name)
+                open(path, "wb").close()
+        except EnvironmentError, e:
+            # Maybe the OS or Python wouldn't let us create a file at the badly encoded path,
+            # which is entirely reasonable.
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("This test is only applicable to platforms that allow "
+                                    "creating files at badly encoded paths.\n%r" % (e,))
+
+        self.failUnlessRaises(FilenameEncodingError, listdir_unicode, unicode(basedir))
 
-        self.failUnlessRaises(FilenameEncodingError, listdir_unicode, basedir)
 
 class Help(unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -499,21 +530,6 @@ class Help(unittest.TestCase):
         help = str(cli.AddAliasOptions())
         self.failUnless("add-alias ALIAS DIRCAP" in help, help)
 
-class CLITestMixin:
-    def do_cli(self, verb, *args, **kwargs):
-        nodeargs = [
-            "--node-directory", self.get_clientdir(),
-            ]
-        argv = [verb] + nodeargs + list(args)
-        stdin = kwargs.get("stdin", "")
-        stdout, stderr = StringIO(), StringIO()
-        d = threads.deferToThread(runner.runner, argv, run_by_human=False,
-                                  stdin=StringIO(stdin),
-                                  stdout=stdout, stderr=stderr)
-        def _done(rc):
-            return rc, stdout.getvalue(), stderr.getvalue()
-        d.addCallback(_done)
-        return d
 
 class CreateAlias(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -523,9 +539,9 @@ class CreateAlias(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         woo.parseOptions(all_args)
         urls = []
         rc = cli.webopen(woo, urls.append)
-        self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-        self.failUnlessEqual(len(urls), 1)
-        self.failUnlessEqual(urls[0], expected_url)
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(len(urls), 1)
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(urls[0], expected_url)
 
     def test_create(self):
         self.basedir = "cli/CreateAlias/create"
@@ -559,12 +575,12 @@ class CreateAlias(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
             self.failIfEqual(rc, 0)
             self.failUnless("Alias 'two' already exists!" in stderr)
             aliases = get_aliases(self.get_clientdir())
-            self.failUnlessEqual(aliases["two"], self.two_uri)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(aliases["two"], self.two_uri)
         d.addCallback(_check_create_duplicate)
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("add-alias", "added", self.two_uri))
         def _check_add((rc,stdout,stderr)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             self.failUnless("Alias 'added' added" in stdout)
         d.addCallback(_check_add)
 
@@ -574,7 +590,7 @@ class CreateAlias(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
             self.failIfEqual(rc, 0)
             self.failUnless("Alias 'two' already exists!" in stderr)
             aliases = get_aliases(self.get_clientdir())
-            self.failUnlessEqual(aliases["two"], self.two_uri)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(aliases["two"], self.two_uri)
         d.addCallback(_check_add_duplicate)
 
         def _test_urls(junk):
@@ -640,77 +656,70 @@ class CreateAlias(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
             self.failUnless(aliases["un-corrupted2"].startswith("URI:DIR2:"))
         d.addCallback(_check_not_corrupted)
 
-
     def test_create_unicode(self):
-        skip_non_unicode_fs()
-        skip_non_unicode_stdout()
-
         self.basedir = "cli/CreateAlias/create_unicode"
         self.set_up_grid()
 
-        d = self.do_cli("create-alias", "études")
-        def _check_create_unicode((rc,stdout,stderr)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failIf(stderr)
+        try:
+            etudes_arg = u"études".encode(get_argv_encoding())
+            lumiere_arg = u"lumière.txt".encode(get_argv_encoding())
+        except UnicodeEncodeError, e:
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("A non-ASCII test argument could not be encoded as %s:\n%r" (get_argv_encoding(), e))
 
-            # If stdout only supports ascii, accentuated characters are
-            # being replaced by '?'
-            if sys.stdout.encoding == "ANSI_X3.4-1968":
-                self.failUnless("Alias '?tudes' created" in stdout)
-            else:
-                self.failUnless("Alias 'études' created" in stdout)
+        d = self.do_cli("create-alias", etudes_arg)
+        def _check_create_unicode((rc, out, err)):
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessIn("Alias %s created" % quote_output(u"études"), out)
 
             aliases = get_aliases(self.get_clientdir())
             self.failUnless(aliases[u"études"].startswith("URI:DIR2:"))
         d.addCallback(_check_create_unicode)
 
-        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", "études:"))
-        def _check_ls1((rc, stdout, stderr)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failIf(stderr)
-
-            self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, "")
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", etudes_arg + ":"))
+        def _check_ls1((rc, out, err)):
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check_ls1)
 
-        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("put", "-", "études:uploaded.txt",
-          stdin="Blah blah blah"))
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("put", "-", etudes_arg + ":uploaded.txt",
+                                              stdin="Blah blah blah"))
 
-        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", "études:"))
-        def _check_ls2((rc, stdout, stderr)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failIf(stderr)
-
-            self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, "uploaded.txt\n")
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", etudes_arg + ":"))
+        def _check_ls2((rc, out, err)):
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "uploaded.txt\n")
         d.addCallback(_check_ls2)
 
-        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", "études:uploaded.txt"))
-        def _check_get((rc, stdout, stderr)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failIf(stderr)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, "Blah blah blah")
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", etudes_arg + ":uploaded.txt"))
+        def _check_get((rc, out, err)):
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "Blah blah blah")
         d.addCallback(_check_get)
 
         # Ensure that an Unicode filename in an Unicode alias works as expected
-        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("put", "-", "études:lumière.txt",
-          stdin="Let the sunshine In!"))
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("put", "-", etudes_arg + ":" + lumiere_arg,
+                                              stdin="Let the sunshine In!"))
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get",
-                      get_aliases(self.get_clientdir())[u"études"] + "/lumière.txt"))
-        def _check_get2((rc, stdout, stderr)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failIf(stderr)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, "Let the sunshine In!")
+                                              get_aliases(self.get_clientdir())[u"études"] + "/" + lumiere_arg))
+        def _check_get2((rc, out, err)):
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "Let the sunshine In!")
         d.addCallback(_check_get2)
 
         return d
 
+
 class Ln(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
     def _create_test_file(self):
         data = "puppies" * 1000
         path = os.path.join(self.basedir, "datafile")
-        f = open(path, 'wb')
-        f.write(data)
-        f.close()
+        fileutil.write(path, data)
         self.datafile = path
 
     def test_ln_without_alias(self):
@@ -721,8 +730,9 @@ class Ln(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("ln", "from", "to")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         # Make sure that validation extends to the "to" parameter
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("create-alias", "havasu"))
@@ -740,7 +750,7 @@ class Ln(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("ln", "havasu:from", "havasu:to")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
         d.addCallback(_check)
         # Make sure that validation occurs on the to parameter if the
@@ -764,21 +774,21 @@ class Put(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("put", stdin=DATA)
         def _uploaded(res):
-            (rc, stdout, stderr) = res
-            self.failUnless("waiting for file data on stdin.." in stderr)
-            self.failUnless("200 OK" in stderr, stderr)
-            self.readcap = stdout
+            (rc, out, err) = res
+            self.failUnlessIn("waiting for file data on stdin..", err)
+            self.failUnlessIn("200 OK", err)
+            self.readcap = out
             self.failUnless(self.readcap.startswith("URI:CHK:"))
         d.addCallback(_uploaded)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", self.readcap))
         def _downloaded(res):
-            (rc, stdout, stderr) = res
-            self.failUnlessEqual(stderr, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, DATA)
+            (rc, out, err) = res
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, DATA)
         d.addCallback(_downloaded)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("put", "-", stdin=DATA))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, self.readcap))
+        d.addCallback(lambda (rc, out, err):
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, self.readcap))
         return d
 
     def test_unlinked_immutable_from_file(self):
@@ -794,17 +804,17 @@ class Put(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         # we make the file small enough to fit in a LIT file, for speed
         fileutil.write(rel_fn, "short file")
         d = self.do_cli("put", rel_fn)
-        def _uploaded((rc,stdout,stderr)):
-            readcap = stdout
-            self.failUnless(readcap.startswith("URI:LIT:"))
+        def _uploaded((rc, out, err)):
+            readcap = out
+            self.failUnless(readcap.startswith("URI:LIT:"), readcap)
             self.readcap = readcap
         d.addCallback(_uploaded)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("put", "./" + rel_fn))
         d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, self.readcap))
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(stdout, self.readcap))
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("put", abs_fn))
         d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, self.readcap))
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(stdout, self.readcap))
         # we just have to assume that ~ is handled properly
         return d
 
@@ -829,43 +839,43 @@ class Put(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("put", rel_fn, "uploaded.txt"))
-        def _uploaded((rc,stdout,stderr)):
-            readcap = stdout.strip()
-            self.failUnless(readcap.startswith("URI:LIT:"))
-            self.failUnless("201 Created" in stderr, stderr)
+        def _uploaded((rc, out, err)):
+            readcap = out.strip()
+            self.failUnless(readcap.startswith("URI:LIT:"), readcap)
+            self.failUnlessIn("201 Created", err)
             self.readcap = readcap
         d.addCallback(_uploaded)
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:uploaded.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, DATA))
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(stdout, DATA))
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("put", "-", "uploaded.txt", stdin=DATA2))
-        def _replaced((rc,stdout,stderr)):
-            readcap = stdout.strip()
-            self.failUnless(readcap.startswith("URI:LIT:"))
-            self.failUnless("200 OK" in stderr, stderr)
+        def _replaced((rc, out, err)):
+            readcap = out.strip()
+            self.failUnless(readcap.startswith("URI:LIT:"), readcap)
+            self.failUnlessIn("200 OK", err)
         d.addCallback(_replaced)
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("put", rel_fn, "subdir/uploaded2.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", "subdir/uploaded2.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, DATA))
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(stdout, DATA))
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("put", rel_fn, "tahoe:uploaded3.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:uploaded3.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, DATA))
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(stdout, DATA))
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("put", rel_fn, "tahoe:subdir/uploaded4.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:subdir/uploaded4.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, DATA))
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(stdout, DATA))
 
         def _get_dircap(res):
             self.dircap = get_aliases(self.get_clientdir())["tahoe"]
@@ -877,7 +887,7 @@ class Put(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:uploaded5.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, DATA))
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(stdout, DATA))
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("put", rel_fn,
@@ -885,7 +895,7 @@ class Put(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:subdir/uploaded6.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, DATA))
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(stdout, DATA))
 
         return d
 
@@ -906,33 +916,33 @@ class Put(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
         d = self.do_cli("put", "--mutable", stdin=DATA)
         def _created(res):
-            (rc, stdout, stderr) = res
-            self.failUnless("waiting for file data on stdin.." in stderr)
-            self.failUnless("200 OK" in stderr)
-            self.filecap = stdout
-            self.failUnless(self.filecap.startswith("URI:SSK:"))
+            (rc, out, err) = res
+            self.failUnlessIn("waiting for file data on stdin..", err)
+            self.failUnlessIn("200 OK", err)
+            self.filecap = out
+            self.failUnless(self.filecap.startswith("URI:SSK:"), self.filecap)
         d.addCallback(_created)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", self.filecap))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessEqual(out, DATA))
+        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, DATA))
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("put", "-", self.filecap, stdin=DATA2))
         def _replaced(res):
-            (rc, stdout, stderr) = res
-            self.failUnless("waiting for file data on stdin.." in stderr)
-            self.failUnless("200 OK" in stderr)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(self.filecap, stdout)
+            (rc, out, err) = res
+            self.failUnlessIn("waiting for file data on stdin..", err)
+            self.failUnlessIn("200 OK", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(self.filecap, out)
         d.addCallback(_replaced)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", self.filecap))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessEqual(out, DATA2))
+        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, DATA2))
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("put", rel_fn, self.filecap))
         def _replaced2(res):
-            (rc, stdout, stderr) = res
-            self.failUnless("200 OK" in stderr)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(self.filecap, stdout)
+            (rc, out, err) = res
+            self.failUnlessIn("200 OK", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(self.filecap, out)
         d.addCallback(_replaced2)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", self.filecap))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessEqual(out, DATA3))
+        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, DATA3))
 
         return d
 
@@ -958,7 +968,7 @@ class Put(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
                       self.do_cli("put", fn2, "tahoe:uploaded.txt"))
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
                       self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:uploaded.txt"))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessEqual(out, DATA2))
+        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, DATA2))
         return d
 
     def test_put_with_nonexistent_alias(self):
@@ -968,41 +978,49 @@ class Put(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("put", "somefile", "fake:afile")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
-
     def test_immutable_from_file_unicode(self):
-        skip_non_unicode_stdout()
-      
-        # tahoe put file.txt "à trier.txt"
-        self.basedir = os.path.dirname(self.mktemp())
+        # tahoe put "à trier.txt" "à trier.txt"
+
+        try:
+            a_trier_arg = u"à trier.txt".encode(get_argv_encoding())
+        except UnicodeEncodeError, e:
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("A non-ASCII command argument could not be encoded as %s:\n%r" (get_argv_encoding(), e))
+
+        self.skip_if_cannot_represent_filename(u"à trier.txt")
+
+        self.basedir = "cli/Put/immutable_from_file_unicode"
         self.set_up_grid()
 
-        rel_fn = os.path.join(self.basedir, "DATAFILE")
+        rel_fn = os.path.join(unicode(self.basedir), u"à trier.txt")
         # we make the file small enough to fit in a LIT file, for speed
         DATA = "short file"
-        f = open(rel_fn, "w")
-        f.write(DATA)
-        f.close()
+        f = open_unicode(rel_fn, "wb")
+        try:
+            f.write(DATA)
+        finally:
+            f.close()
 
         d = self.do_cli("create-alias", "tahoe")
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
-                      self.do_cli("put", rel_fn, "à trier.txt"))
-        def _uploaded((rc,stdout,stderr)):
-            readcap = stdout.strip()
-            self.failUnless(readcap.startswith("URI:LIT:"))
-            self.failUnless("201 Created" in stderr, stderr)
+                      self.do_cli("put", rel_fn.encode(get_argv_encoding()), a_trier_arg))
+        def _uploaded((rc, out, err)):
+            readcap = out.strip()
+            self.failUnless(readcap.startswith("URI:LIT:"), readcap)
+            self.failUnlessIn("201 Created", err)
             self.readcap = readcap
         d.addCallback(_uploaded)
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res:
-                      self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:à trier.txt"))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,stdout,stderr):
-                      self.failUnlessEqual(stdout, DATA))
+                      self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:" + a_trier_arg))
+        d.addCallback(lambda (rc, out, err):
+                      self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, DATA))
 
         return d
 
@@ -1012,6 +1030,19 @@ class List(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         c0 = self.g.clients[0]
         small = "small"
+
+        # u"gööd" might not be representable in the argv and/or output encodings.
+        # It is initially included in the directory in any case.
+        try:
+            good_arg = u"gööd".encode(get_argv_encoding())
+        except UnicodeEncodeError:
+            good_arg = None
+
+        try:
+            good_out = u"gööd".encode(get_output_encoding())
+        except UnicodeEncodeError:
+            good_out = None
+
         d = c0.create_dirnode()
         def _stash_root_and_create_file(n):
             self.rootnode = n
@@ -1031,51 +1062,92 @@ class List(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
                       self.do_cli("add-alias", "tahoe", self.rooturi))
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls"))
         def _check1((rc,out,err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            outstrs = out.splitlines()
-            outunics = [ outstr.decode(stringutils.get_term_encoding()) for outstr in outstrs ]
-            self.failUnlessEqual(outunics, [u"0share", u"1share", u"gööd"])
+            if good_out is None:
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
+                self.failUnlessIn("could not be encoded", err)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
+            else:
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+                outstrs = out.splitlines()
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(outstrs, ["0share", "1share", good_out])
         d.addCallback(_check1)
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "missing"))
         def _check2((rc,out,err)):
             self.failIfEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err.strip(), "No such file or directory")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(out, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err.strip(), "No such file or directory")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check2)
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "1share"))
         def _check3((rc,out,err)):
             self.failIfEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failUnlessIn("Error during GET: 410 Gone ", err)
+            self.failUnlessIn("Error during GET: 410 Gone", err)
             self.failUnlessIn("UnrecoverableFileError:", err)
             self.failUnlessIn("could not be retrieved, because there were "
                               "insufficient good shares.", err)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(out, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check3)
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "0share"))
         d.addCallback(_check3)
         def _check4((rc, out, err)):
+            if good_out is None:
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
+                self.failUnlessIn("could not be encoded", err)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
+            else:
+                # listing a file (as dir/filename) should have the edge metadata,
+                # including the filename
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+                self.failUnlessIn(good_out, out)
+                self.failIfIn("-r-- %d -" % len(small), out,
+                              "trailing hyphen means unknown date")
+
+        if good_arg is not None:
+            d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", good_arg))
+            d.addCallback(_check4)
+            # listing a file as $DIRCAP/filename should work just like dir/filename
+            d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", self.rooturi + "/" + good_arg))
+            d.addCallback(_check4)
+            # and similarly for $DIRCAP:./filename
+            d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", self.rooturi + ":./" + good_arg))
+            d.addCallback(_check4)
+
+        def _check5((rc, out, err)):
+            # listing a raw filecap should not explode, but it will have no
+            # metadata, just the size
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual("-r-- %d -" % len(small), out.strip())
+        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", self.goodcap))
+        d.addCallback(_check5)
+
+        # Now rename 'gööd' to 'good' and repeat the tests that might have been skipped due
+        # to encoding problems.
+        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.rootnode.move_child_to(u"gööd", self.rootnode, u"good"))
+
+        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls"))
+        def _check1_ascii((rc,out,err)):
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            outstrs = out.splitlines()
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(outstrs, ["0share", "1share", "good"])
+        d.addCallback(_check1_ascii)
+        def _check4_ascii((rc, out, err)):
             # listing a file (as dir/filename) should have the edge metadata,
             # including the filename
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failUnlessIn(u"gööd", out.decode(stringutils.get_term_encoding()))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessIn("good", out)
             self.failIfIn("-r-- %d -" % len(small), out,
                           "trailing hyphen means unknown date")
-        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", u"gööd".encode(locale.getpreferredencoding())))
-        d.addCallback(_check4)
+
+        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", "good"))
+        d.addCallback(_check4_ascii)
         # listing a file as $DIRCAP/filename should work just like dir/filename
-        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", self.rooturi + u"/gööd".encode(locale.getpreferredencoding())))
-        d.addCallback(_check4)
+        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", self.rooturi + "/good"))
+        d.addCallback(_check4_ascii)
         # and similarly for $DIRCAP:./filename
-        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", self.rooturi + u":./gööd".encode(locale.getpreferredencoding())))
-        d.addCallback(_check4)
-        def _check5((rc, out, err)):
-            # listing a raw filecap should not explode, but it will have no
-            # metadata, just the size
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual("-r-- %d -" % len(small), out.strip())
-        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", self.goodcap))
-        d.addCallback(_check5)
+        d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", self.rooturi + ":./good"))
+        d.addCallback(_check4_ascii)
+
         unknown_immcap = "imm.URI:unknown"
         def _create_unknown(ign):
             nm = c0.nodemaker
@@ -1086,7 +1158,7 @@ class List(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         def _check6((rc, out, err)):
             # listing a directory referencing an unknown object should print
             # an extra message to stderr
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             self.failUnlessIn("?r-- ? - unknownchild-imm\n", out)
             self.failUnlessIn("included unknown objects", err)
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", "unknown"))
@@ -1096,7 +1168,7 @@ class List(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
             # to stderr (currently this only works if the URI starts with 'URI:'
             # after any 'ro.' or 'imm.' prefix, otherwise it will be confused
             # with an alias).
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             self.failUnlessIn("?r-- ? -\n", out)
             self.failUnlessIn("included unknown objects", err)
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("ls", "-l", unknown_immcap))
@@ -1110,8 +1182,9 @@ class List(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("ls")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -1122,9 +1195,10 @@ class List(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("ls", "nonexistent:")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
             self.failUnlessIn("nonexistent", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -1232,8 +1306,9 @@ class Mv(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("mv", "afile", "anotherfile")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         # check to see that the validation extends to the
         # target argument by making an alias that will work with the first
@@ -1241,9 +1316,7 @@ class Mv(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("create-alias", "havasu"))
         def _create_a_test_file(ign):
             self.test_file_path = os.path.join(self.basedir, "afile")
-            f = open(self.test_file_path, "wb")
-            f.write("puppies" * 100)
-            f.close()
+            fileutil.write(self.test_file_path, "puppies" * 100)
         d.addCallback(_create_a_test_file)
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("put", self.test_file_path,
                                               "havasu:afile"))
@@ -1259,9 +1332,10 @@ class Mv(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("mv", "fake:afile", "fake:anotherfile")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
             self.failUnlessIn("fake", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         # check to see that the validation extends to the
         # target argument by making an alias that will work with the first
@@ -1269,9 +1343,7 @@ class Mv(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("create-alias", "havasu"))
         def _create_a_test_file(ign):
             self.test_file_path = os.path.join(self.basedir, "afile")
-            f = open(self.test_file_path, "wb")
-            f.write("puppies" * 100)
-            f.close()
+            fileutil.write(self.test_file_path, "puppies" * 100)
         d.addCallback(_create_a_test_file)
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("put", self.test_file_path,
                                               "havasu:afile"))
@@ -1289,40 +1361,63 @@ class Cp(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
                               o.parseOptions, ["onearg"])
 
     def test_unicode_filename(self):
-        skip_non_unicode_fs()
-        skip_non_unicode_stdout()
-
         self.basedir = "cli/Cp/unicode_filename"
-        self.set_up_grid()
-        d = self.do_cli("create-alias", "tahoe")
 
-        # Use unicode strings when calling os functions
-        fn1 = os.path.join(self.basedir, u"Ärtonwall")
-        DATA1 = "unicode file content"
-        fileutil.write(fn1, DATA1)
+        fn1 = os.path.join(unicode(self.basedir), u"Ärtonwall")
+        try:
+            fn1_arg = fn1.encode(get_argv_encoding())
+            artonwall_arg = u"Ärtonwall".encode(get_argv_encoding())
+        except UnicodeEncodeError, e:
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("A non-ASCII command argument could not be encoded as %s:\n%r" (get_argv_encoding(), e))
 
-        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("cp", fn1.encode('utf-8'), "tahoe:"))
+        self.skip_if_cannot_represent_filename(fn1)
 
-        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:Ärtonwall"))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessEqual(out, DATA1))
+        self.set_up_grid()
 
-        fn2 = os.path.join(self.basedir, u"Metallica")
+        DATA1 = "unicode file content"
+        f = open_unicode(fn1, "wb")
+        try:
+            f.write(DATA1)
+        finally:
+            f.close()
+
+        fn2 = os.path.join(self.basedir, "Metallica")
         DATA2 = "non-unicode file content"
         fileutil.write(fn2, DATA2)
 
-        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("cp", fn2.encode('utf-8'), "tahoe:"))
+        d = self.do_cli("create-alias", "tahoe")
+
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("cp", fn1_arg, "tahoe:"))
+
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:" + artonwall_arg))
+        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, DATA1))
+
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("cp", fn2, "tahoe:"))
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:Metallica"))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessEqual(out, DATA2))
+        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, DATA2))
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", "tahoe:"))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc,out,err): self.failUnlessEqual(out, "Metallica\nÄrtonwall\n"))
+        def _check((rc, out, err)):
+            try:
+                unicode_to_output(u"Ärtonwall")
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "Metallica\n")
+                self.failUnlessIn(quote_output(u"Ärtonwall"), err)
+                self.failUnlessIn("files whose names could not be converted", err)
+            else:
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out.decode(get_output_encoding()), u"Metallica\nÄrtonwall\n")
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+        d.addCallback(_check)
 
         return d
 
     def test_dangling_symlink_vs_recursion(self):
         if not hasattr(os, 'symlink'):
-            raise unittest.SkipTest("There is no symlink on this platform.")
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("Symlinks are not supported by Python on this platform.")
+
         # cp -r on a directory containing a dangling symlink shouldn't assert
         self.basedir = "cli/Cp/dangling_symlink_vs_recursion"
         self.set_up_grid()
@@ -1351,7 +1446,8 @@ class Cp(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d = self.do_cli("create-alias", "tahoe")
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("put", fn1))
         def _put_file((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessIn("200 OK", err)
             # keep track of the filecap
             self.filecap = out.strip()
         d.addCallback(_put_file)
@@ -1360,48 +1456,49 @@ class Cp(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         #  cp FILECAP filename
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("cp", self.filecap, fn2))
         def _copy_file((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             results = fileutil.read(fn2)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(results, DATA1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(results, DATA1)
         d.addCallback(_copy_file)
 
         # Test with ./ (see #761)
         #  cp FILECAP localdir
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("cp", self.filecap, outdir))
         def _resp((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error: you must specify a destination filename",
                               err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_resp)
 
         # Create a directory, linked at tahoe:test
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("mkdir", "tahoe:test"))
         def _get_dir((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             self.dircap = out.strip()
         d.addCallback(_get_dir)
 
         # Upload a file to the directory
         d.addCallback(lambda ign:
                       self.do_cli("put", fn1, "tahoe:test/test_file"))
-        d.addCallback(lambda (rc, out, err): self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0))
+        d.addCallback(lambda (rc, out, err): self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0))
 
         #  cp DIRCAP/filename localdir
         d.addCallback(lambda ign:
                       self.do_cli("cp",  self.dircap + "/test_file", outdir))
         def _get_resp((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             results = fileutil.read(os.path.join(outdir, "test_file"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(results, DATA1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(results, DATA1)
         d.addCallback(_get_resp)
 
         #  cp -r DIRCAP/filename filename2
         d.addCallback(lambda ign:
                       self.do_cli("cp",  self.dircap + "/test_file", fn3))
         def _get_resp2((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             results = fileutil.read(fn3)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(results, DATA1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(results, DATA1)
         d.addCallback(_get_resp2)
         return d
 
@@ -1412,7 +1509,7 @@ class Cp(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("cp", "fake:file1", "fake:file2")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
         d.addCallback(_check)
         # 'tahoe cp' actually processes the target argument first, so we need
@@ -1425,17 +1522,6 @@ class Cp(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         return d
 
 
-class Mkdir(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
-    def test_unicode_mkdir(self):
-        self.basedir = os.path.dirname(self.mktemp())
-        self.set_up_grid()
-
-        d = self.do_cli("create-alias", "tahoe")
-        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("mkdir", "tahoe:Motörhead"))
-
-        return d
- 
-
 class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
     def writeto(self, path, data):
@@ -1490,54 +1576,54 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res: do_backup())
         def _check0((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             fu, fr, fs, dc, dr, ds = self.count_output(out)
             # foo.txt, bar.txt, blah.txt
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fu, 3)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fr, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fs, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fu, 3)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fr, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fs, 0)
             # empty, home, home/parent, home/parent/subdir
-            self.failUnlessEqual(dc, 4)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(dr, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ds, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dc, 4)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dr, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ds, 0)
         d.addCallback(_check0)
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", "--uri", "tahoe:backups"))
         def _check1((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.split("\n")
             children = dict([line.split() for line in lines if line])
             latest_uri = children["Latest"]
             self.failUnless(latest_uri.startswith("URI:DIR2-CHK:"), latest_uri)
             childnames = children.keys()
-            self.failUnlessEqual(sorted(childnames), ["Archives", "Latest"])
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(sorted(childnames), ["Archives", "Latest"])
         d.addCallback(_check1)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", "tahoe:backups/Latest"))
         def _check2((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(sorted(out.split()), ["empty", "parent"])
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(sorted(out.split()), ["empty", "parent"])
         d.addCallback(_check2)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", "tahoe:backups/Latest/empty"))
         def _check2a((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(out.strip(), "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out.strip(), "")
         d.addCallback(_check2a)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:backups/Latest/parent/subdir/foo.txt"))
         def _check3((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(out, "foo")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "foo")
         d.addCallback(_check3)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", "tahoe:backups/Archives"))
         def _check4((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             self.old_archives = out.split()
-            self.failUnlessEqual(len(self.old_archives), 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(len(self.old_archives), 1)
         d.addCallback(_check4)
 
 
@@ -1546,18 +1632,18 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         def _check4a((rc, out, err)):
             # second backup should reuse everything, if the backupdb is
             # available
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             if have_bdb:
                 fu, fr, fs, dc, dr, ds = self.count_output(out)
                 # foo.txt, bar.txt, blah.txt
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fu, 0)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fr, 3)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fs, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fu, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fr, 3)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fs, 0)
                 # empty, home, home/parent, home/parent/subdir
-                self.failUnlessEqual(dc, 0)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(dr, 4)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(ds, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dc, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dr, 4)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ds, 0)
         d.addCallback(_check4a)
 
         if have_bdb:
@@ -1580,32 +1666,32 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
                 # we should check all files, and re-use all of them. None of
                 # the directories should have been changed, so we should
                 # re-use all of them too.
-                self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-                self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
                 fu, fr, fs, dc, dr, ds = self.count_output(out)
                 fchecked, dchecked = self.count_output2(out)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fchecked, 3)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fu, 0)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fr, 3)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fs, 0)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(dchecked, 4)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(dc, 0)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(dr, 4)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(ds, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fchecked, 3)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fu, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fr, 3)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fs, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dchecked, 4)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dc, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dr, 4)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ds, 0)
             d.addCallback(_check4b)
 
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", "tahoe:backups/Archives"))
         def _check5((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             self.new_archives = out.split()
             expected_new = 2
             if have_bdb:
                 expected_new += 1
-            self.failUnlessEqual(len(self.new_archives), expected_new, out)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(len(self.new_archives), expected_new, out)
             # the original backup should still be the oldest (i.e. sorts
             # alphabetically towards the beginning)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(sorted(self.new_archives)[0],
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(sorted(self.new_archives)[0],
                                  self.old_archives[0])
         d.addCallback(_check5)
 
@@ -1625,44 +1711,44 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         def _check5a((rc, out, err)):
             # second backup should reuse bar.txt (if backupdb is available),
             # and upload the rest. None of the directories can be reused.
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             if have_bdb:
                 fu, fr, fs, dc, dr, ds = self.count_output(out)
                 # new foo.txt, surprise file, subfile, empty
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fu, 4)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fu, 4)
                 # old bar.txt
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fr, 1)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(fs, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fr, 1)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fs, 0)
                 # home, parent, subdir, blah.txt, surprisedir
-                self.failUnlessEqual(dc, 5)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(dr, 0)
-                self.failUnlessEqual(ds, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dc, 5)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dr, 0)
+                self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ds, 0)
         d.addCallback(_check5a)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("ls", "tahoe:backups/Archives"))
         def _check6((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             self.new_archives = out.split()
             expected_new = 3
             if have_bdb:
                 expected_new += 1
-            self.failUnlessEqual(len(self.new_archives), expected_new)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(sorted(self.new_archives)[0],
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(len(self.new_archives), expected_new)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(sorted(self.new_archives)[0],
                                  self.old_archives[0])
         d.addCallback(_check6)
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:backups/Latest/parent/subdir/foo.txt"))
         def _check7((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(out, "FOOF!")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "FOOF!")
             # the old snapshot should not be modified
             return self.do_cli("get", "tahoe:backups/Archives/%s/parent/subdir/foo.txt" % self.old_archives[0])
         d.addCallback(_check7)
         def _check8((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(out, "foo")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "foo")
         d.addCallback(_check8)
 
         return d
@@ -1687,8 +1773,8 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
             all = set(all)
             included = set(included)
             excluded = set(excluded)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(filtered, included)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(all.difference(filtered), excluded)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(filtered, included)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(all.difference(filtered), excluded)
 
         # test simple exclude
         backup_options = cli.BackupOptions()
@@ -1737,7 +1823,7 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_ignore_symlinks(self):
         if not hasattr(os, 'symlink'):
-            raise unittest.SkipTest("There is no symlink on this platform.")
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("Symlinks are not supported by Python on this platform.")
 
         self.basedir = os.path.dirname(self.mktemp())
         self.set_up_grid()
@@ -1750,20 +1836,20 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("backup", "--verbose", source, "tahoe:test"))
 
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 2)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 2)
             foo2 = os.path.join(source, "foo2.txt")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "WARNING: cannot backup symlink %s\n" % foo2)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "WARNING: cannot backup symlink %s\n" % foo2)
 
             fu, fr, fs, dc, dr, ds = self.count_output(out)
             # foo.txt
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fu, 1)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fr, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fu, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fr, 0)
             # foo2.txt
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fs, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fs, 1)
             # home
-            self.failUnlessEqual(dc, 1)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(dr, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ds, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dr, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ds, 0)
 
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
@@ -1780,18 +1866,18 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("backup", source, "tahoe:test"))
 
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 2)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "WARNING: permission denied on file %s\n" % os.path.join(source, "foo.txt"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 2)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "WARNING: permission denied on file %s\n" % os.path.join(source, "foo.txt"))
 
             fu, fr, fs, dc, dr, ds = self.count_output(out)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fu, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fr, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fu, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fr, 0)
             # foo.txt
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fs, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fs, 1)
             # home
-            self.failUnlessEqual(dc, 1)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(dr, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ds, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dr, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ds, 0)
         d.addCallback(_check)
 
         # This is necessary for the temp files to be correctly removed
@@ -1815,18 +1901,18 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("backup", source, "tahoe:test"))
 
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 2)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "WARNING: permission denied on directory %s\n" % os.path.join(source, "test"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 2)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "WARNING: permission denied on directory %s\n" % os.path.join(source, "test"))
 
             fu, fr, fs, dc, dr, ds = self.count_output(out)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fu, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fr, 0)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(fs, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fu, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fr, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(fs, 0)
             # home, test
-            self.failUnlessEqual(dc, 2)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(dr, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dc, 2)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(dr, 0)
             # test
-            self.failUnlessEqual(ds, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(ds, 1)
         d.addCallback(_check)
 
         # This is necessary for the temp files to be correctly removed
@@ -1844,8 +1930,9 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         source = os.path.join(self.basedir, "file1")
         d = self.do_cli('backup', source, source)
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -1857,9 +1944,10 @@ class Backup(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, StallMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         source = os.path.join(self.basedir, "file1")
         d = self.do_cli("backup", source, "nonexistent:" + source)
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
             self.failUnlessIn("nonexistent", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -1878,8 +1966,8 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("check", self.uri))
         def _check1((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
             self.failUnless("Summary: Healthy" in lines, out)
             self.failUnless(" good-shares: 10 (encoding is 3-of-10)" in lines, out)
@@ -1887,16 +1975,16 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("check", "--raw", self.uri))
         def _check2((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             data = simplejson.loads(out)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(data["summary"], "Healthy")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(data["summary"], "Healthy")
         d.addCallback(_check2)
 
         def _clobber_shares(ignored):
             # delete one, corrupt a second
             shares = self.find_shares(self.uri)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(len(shares), 10)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(len(shares), 10)
             os.unlink(shares[0][2])
             cso = debug.CorruptShareOptions()
             cso.stdout = StringIO()
@@ -1911,8 +1999,8 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("check", "--verify", self.uri))
         def _check3((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
             summary = [l for l in lines if l.startswith("Summary")][0]
             self.failUnless("Summary: Unhealthy: 8 shares (enc 3-of-10)"
@@ -1925,8 +2013,8 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda ign:
                       self.do_cli("check", "--verify", "--repair", self.uri))
         def _check4((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
             self.failUnless("Summary: not healthy" in lines, out)
             self.failUnless(" good-shares: 8 (encoding is 3-of-10)" in lines, out)
@@ -1938,8 +2026,8 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda ign:
                       self.do_cli("check", "--verify", "--repair", self.uri))
         def _check5((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
             self.failUnless("Summary: healthy" in lines, out)
             self.failUnless(" good-shares: 10 (encoding is 3-of-10)" in lines, out)
@@ -1955,6 +2043,8 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.uris = {}
         self.fileurls = {}
         DATA = "data" * 100
+        quoted_good = quote_output(u"gööd")
+
         d = c0.create_dirnode()
         def _stash_root_and_create_file(n):
             self.rootnode = n
@@ -1976,8 +2066,8 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("deep-check", self.rooturi))
         def _check1((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
             self.failUnless("done: 4 objects checked, 4 healthy, 0 unhealthy"
                             in lines, out)
@@ -1991,22 +2081,21 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("deep-check", "--verbose",
                                               self.rooturi))
         def _check2((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
-            linesu = [ line.decode(stringutils.get_term_encoding()) for line in lines]
-            self.failUnless("<root>: Healthy" in lines, out)
-            self.failUnless("small: Healthy (LIT)" in lines, out)
-            self.failUnless(u"gööd: Healthy" in linesu, out)
-            self.failUnless("mutable: Healthy" in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless("'<root>': Healthy" in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless("'small': Healthy (LIT)" in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless((quoted_good + ": Healthy") in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless("'mutable': Healthy" in lines, out)
             self.failUnless("done: 4 objects checked, 4 healthy, 0 unhealthy"
                             in lines, out)
         d.addCallback(_check2)
 
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("stats", self.rooturi))
         def _check_stats((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
             self.failUnlessIn(" count-immutable-files: 1", lines)
             self.failUnlessIn("   count-mutable-files: 1", lines)
@@ -2020,7 +2109,7 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
         def _clobber_shares(ignored):
             shares = self.find_shares(self.uris[u"gööd"])
-            self.failUnlessEqual(len(shares), 10)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(len(shares), 10)
             os.unlink(shares[0][2])
 
             shares = self.find_shares(self.uris["mutable"])
@@ -2043,14 +2132,13 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(lambda ign:
                       self.do_cli("deep-check", "--verbose", self.rooturi))
         def _check3((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
-            linesu = [ line.decode(stringutils.get_term_encoding()) for line in lines]
-            self.failUnless("<root>: Healthy" in lines, out)
-            self.failUnless("small: Healthy (LIT)" in lines, out)
-            self.failUnless("mutable: Healthy" in lines, out) # needs verifier
-            self.failUnless(u"gööd: Not Healthy: 9 shares (enc 3-of-10)" in linesu, out)
+            self.failUnless("'<root>': Healthy" in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless("'small': Healthy (LIT)" in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless("'mutable': Healthy" in lines, out) # needs verifier
+            self.failUnless((quoted_good + ": Not Healthy: 9 shares (enc 3-of-10)") in lines, out)
             self.failIf(self._corrupt_share_line in lines, out)
             self.failUnless("done: 4 objects checked, 3 healthy, 1 unhealthy"
                             in lines, out)
@@ -2060,17 +2148,16 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
                       self.do_cli("deep-check", "--verbose", "--verify",
                                   self.rooturi))
         def _check4((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
-            linesu = [ line.decode(stringutils.get_term_encoding()) for line in lines]
-            self.failUnless("<root>: Healthy" in lines, out)
-            self.failUnless("small: Healthy (LIT)" in lines, out)
-            mutable = [l for l in lines if l.startswith("mutable")][0]
-            self.failUnless(mutable.startswith("mutable: Unhealthy: 9 shares (enc 3-of-10)"),
+            self.failUnless("'<root>': Healthy" in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless("'small': Healthy (LIT)" in lines, out)
+            mutable = [l for l in lines if l.startswith("'mutable'")][0]
+            self.failUnless(mutable.startswith("'mutable': Unhealthy: 9 shares (enc 3-of-10)"),
                             mutable)
             self.failUnless(self._corrupt_share_line in lines, out)
-            self.failUnless(u"gööd: Not Healthy: 9 shares (enc 3-of-10)" in linesu, out)
+            self.failUnless((quoted_good + ": Not Healthy: 9 shares (enc 3-of-10)") in lines, out)
             self.failUnless("done: 4 objects checked, 2 healthy, 2 unhealthy"
                             in lines, out)
         d.addCallback(_check4)
@@ -2079,12 +2166,12 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
                       self.do_cli("deep-check", "--raw",
                                   self.rooturi))
         def _check5((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
             units = [simplejson.loads(line) for line in lines]
             # root, small, gööd, mutable,  stats
-            self.failUnlessEqual(len(units), 4+1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(len(units), 4+1)
         d.addCallback(_check5)
 
         d.addCallback(lambda ign:
@@ -2092,15 +2179,14 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
                                   "--verbose", "--verify", "--repair",
                                   self.rooturi))
         def _check6((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
-            linesu = [ line.decode(stringutils.get_term_encoding()) for line in lines]
-            self.failUnless("<root>: healthy" in lines, out)
-            self.failUnless("small: healthy" in lines, out)
-            self.failUnless("mutable: not healthy" in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless("'<root>': healthy" in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless("'small': healthy" in lines, out)
+            self.failUnless("'mutable': not healthy" in lines, out)
             self.failUnless(self._corrupt_share_line in lines, out)
-            self.failUnless(u"gööd: not healthy" in linesu, out)
+            self.failUnless((quoted_good + ": not healthy") in lines, out)
             self.failUnless("done: 4 objects checked" in lines, out)
             self.failUnless(" pre-repair: 2 healthy, 2 unhealthy" in lines, out)
             self.failUnless(" 2 repairs attempted, 2 successful, 0 failed"
@@ -2166,8 +2252,9 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("check")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("deep-check"))
         d.addCallback(_check)
@@ -2180,9 +2267,10 @@ class Check(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("check", "nonexistent:")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
             self.failUnlessIn("nonexistent", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -2230,8 +2318,9 @@ class Get(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli('get', 'file')
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -2242,9 +2331,10 @@ class Get(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("get", "nonexistent:file")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
             self.failUnlessIn("nonexistent", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -2258,8 +2348,9 @@ class Manifest(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("manifest")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -2270,14 +2361,50 @@ class Manifest(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("manifest", "nonexistent:")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
             self.failUnlessIn("nonexistent", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
 
 class Mkdir(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_mkdir(self):
+        self.basedir = os.path.dirname(self.mktemp())
+        self.set_up_grid()
+
+        d = self.do_cli("create-alias", "tahoe")
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("mkdir", "test"))
+        def _check((rc, out, err)):
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            #self.failUnlessIn(..., out)
+        d.addCallback(_check)
+        #d.addCallback(lambda ign: ...)
+
+        return d
+
+    def test_mkdir_unicode(self):
+        self.basedir = os.path.dirname(self.mktemp())
+        self.set_up_grid()
+
+        try:
+            motorhead_arg = u"tahoe:Motörhead".encode(get_argv_encoding())
+        except UnicodeEncodeError, e:
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("A non-ASCII command argument could not be encoded as %s:\n%r" (get_argv_encoding(), e))
+
+        d = self.do_cli("create-alias", "tahoe")
+        d.addCallback(lambda res: self.do_cli("mkdir", motorhead_arg))
+        def _check((rc, out, err)):
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            #self.failUnlessIn(..., out)
+        d.addCallback(_check)
+        #d.addCallback(lambda ign: ...)
+
+        return d
+
     def test_mkdir_with_nonexistent_alias(self):
         # when invoked with an alias that doesn't exist, 'tahoe mkdir' should
         # output a sensible error message rather than a stack trace.
@@ -2285,8 +2412,9 @@ class Mkdir(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("mkdir", "havasu:")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -2299,8 +2427,9 @@ class Rm(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("rm", "afile")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -2311,9 +2440,10 @@ class Rm(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("rm", "nonexistent:afile")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
             self.failUnlessIn("nonexistent", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -2333,8 +2463,8 @@ class Stats(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         # make sure we can get stats on an empty directory too
         d.addCallback(lambda ign: self.do_cli("stats", self.rooturi))
         def _check_stats((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "")
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0)
             lines = out.splitlines()
             self.failUnlessIn(" count-immutable-files: 0", lines)
             self.failUnlessIn("   count-mutable-files: 0", lines)
@@ -2354,8 +2484,9 @@ class Stats(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("stats")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -2366,8 +2497,9 @@ class Stats(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("stats", "havasu:")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
 
@@ -2381,7 +2513,8 @@ class Webopen(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.set_up_grid()
         d = self.do_cli("webopen", "fake:")
         def _check((rc, out, err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 1)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 1)
             self.failUnlessIn("error:", err)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(out, "")
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
diff --git a/src/allmydata/test/test_consolidate.py b/src/allmydata/test/test_consolidate.py
index d1562a6f..991e8bdf 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/test/test_consolidate.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/test/test_consolidate.py
@@ -4,12 +4,23 @@ from cStringIO import StringIO
 import pickle
 from twisted.trial import unittest
 from allmydata.test.no_network import GridTestMixin
+from allmydata.test.common_util import ReallyEqualMixin
 from allmydata.util import fileutil
 from allmydata.scripts import runner, debug
 from allmydata.scripts.common import get_aliases
 from twisted.internet import defer, threads # CLI tests use deferToThread
 from allmydata.interfaces import IDirectoryNode
 
+have_sqlite3 = False
+try:
+    import sqlite3
+    sqlite3  # hush pyflakes
+    have_sqlite3 = True
+except ImportError:
+    pass
+else:
+    from allmydata.scripts import consolidate
+
 
 class CLITestMixin:
     def do_cli(self, verb, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -30,7 +41,7 @@ class CLITestMixin:
         d.addCallback(_done)
         return d
 
-class Consolidate(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
+class Consolidate(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, ReallyEqualMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
     def writeto(self, path, data):
         d = os.path.dirname(os.path.join(self.basedir, "home", path))
@@ -46,8 +57,8 @@ class Consolidate(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
     def do_cli_good(self, verb, *args, **kwargs):
         d = self.do_cli(verb, *args, **kwargs)
         def _check((rc,out,err)):
-            self.failUnlessEqual(err, "", verb)
-            self.failUnlessEqual(rc, 0, verb)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(err, "", verb)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(rc, 0, verb)
             return out
         d.addCallback(_check)
         return d
@@ -59,29 +70,14 @@ class Consolidate(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         co.parseOptions(["--node-directory", self.get_clientdir(),
                          "--dbfile", "foo.db", "--backupfile", "backup", "--really",
                          "URI:DIR2:foo"])
-        self.failUnlessEqual(co["dbfile"], "foo.db")
-        self.failUnlessEqual(co["backupfile"], "backup")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(co["dbfile"], "foo.db")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(co["backupfile"], "backup")
         self.failUnless(co["really"])
-        self.failUnlessEqual(co.where, "URI:DIR2:foo")
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(co.where, u"URI:DIR2:foo")
 
-    def OFF_test_basic(self):
-        # rename this method to enable the test. I've disabled it because, in
-        # my opinion:
-        #
-        #  1: 'tahoe debug consolidate' is useful enough to include in trunk,
-        #     but not useful enough justify a lot of compatibility effort or
-        #     extra test time
-        #  2: it requires sqlite3; I did not bother to make it work with
-        #     pysqlite, nor did I bother making it fail gracefully when
-        #     sqlite3 is not available
-        #  3: this test takes 30 seconds to run on my workstation, and it likely
-        #     to take several minutes on the old slow dapper buildslave
-        #  4: I don't want other folks to see a SkipTest and wonder "oh no, what
-        #     did I do wrong to not allow this test to run"
-        #
-        # These may not be strong arguments: I welcome feedback. In particular,
-        # this command may be more suitable for a plugin of some sort, if we
-        # had plugins of some sort. -warner 12-Mar-09
+    def test_basic(self):
+        if not have_sqlite3:
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("'tahoe debug consolidate' is not supported because sqlite3 is not available.")
 
         self.basedir = "consolidate/Consolidate/basic"
         self.set_up_grid(num_clients=1)
@@ -175,7 +171,7 @@ class Consolidate(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         def _check_consolidate_output1(out):
             lines = out.splitlines()
             last = lines[-1]
-            self.failUnlessEqual(last.strip(),
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(last.strip(),
                                  "system done, dircounts: "
                                  "25/12 seen/used, 7 created, 2 as-is, 13 reused")
             self.failUnless(os.path.exists(dbfile))
@@ -185,7 +181,7 @@ class Consolidate(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
             self.failUnless(u"fluxx" in backup["archives"])
             adata = backup["archives"]["fluxx"]
             kids = adata[u"children"]
-            self.failUnlessEqual(str(kids[u"2009-03-01 01.01.01"][1][u"rw_uri"]),
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(str(kids[u"2009-03-01 01.01.01"][1][u"rw_uri"]),
                                  c("1-b-start"))
         d.addCallback(_check_consolidate_output1)
         d.addCallback(lambda ign:
@@ -196,11 +192,11 @@ class Consolidate(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         def _check_consolidate_output2(out):
             lines = out.splitlines()
             last = lines[-1]
-            self.failUnlessEqual(last.strip(),
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(last.strip(),
                                  "system done, dircounts: "
                                  "0/0 seen/used, 0 created, 0 as-is, 0 reused")
             backup = pickle.load(open(backupfile, "rb"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(backup, self.first_backup)
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(backup, self.first_backup)
             self.failUnless(os.path.exists(backupfile + ".0"))
         d.addCallback(_check_consolidate_output2)
 
@@ -214,14 +210,13 @@ class Consolidate(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
             #                            self.manifests[which][path])
 
             # last snapshot should be untouched
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("7-b"), c("7-b-start"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("7-b"), c("7-b-start"))
 
             # first snapshot should be a readonly form of the original
-            from allmydata.scripts.tahoe_backup import readonly
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("1-b-finish"), readonly(c("1-b-start")))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("1-bp-finish"), readonly(c("1-bp-start")))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("1-bps1-finish"), readonly(c("1-bps1-start")))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("1-bps2-finish"), readonly(c("1-bps2-start")))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("1-b-finish"), consolidate.readonly(c("1-b-start")))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("1-bp-finish"), consolidate.readonly(c("1-bp-start")))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("1-bps1-finish"), consolidate.readonly(c("1-bps1-start")))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("1-bps2-finish"), consolidate.readonly(c("1-bps2-start")))
 
             # new directories should be different than the old ones
             self.failIfEqual(c("1-b"), c("1-b-start"))
@@ -246,33 +241,33 @@ class Consolidate(GridTestMixin, CLITestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
             self.failIfEqual(c("5-bps2"), c("5-bps2-start"))
 
             # snapshot 1 and snapshot 2 should be identical
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("2-b"), c("1-b"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("2-b"), c("1-b"))
 
             # snapshot 3 modified a file underneath parent/
             self.failIfEqual(c("3-b"), c("2-b")) # 3 modified a file
             self.failIfEqual(c("3-bp"), c("2-bp"))
             # but the subdirs are the same
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("3-bps1"), c("2-bps1"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("3-bps2"), c("2-bps2"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("3-bps1"), c("2-bps1"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("3-bps2"), c("2-bps2"))
 
             # snapshot 4 should be the same as 2
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("4-b"), c("2-b"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("4-bp"), c("2-bp"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("4-bps1"), c("2-bps1"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("4-bps2"), c("2-bps2"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("4-b"), c("2-b"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("4-bp"), c("2-bp"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("4-bps1"), c("2-bps1"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("4-bps2"), c("2-bps2"))
 
             # snapshot 5 added a file under subdir1
             self.failIfEqual(c("5-b"), c("4-b"))
             self.failIfEqual(c("5-bp"), c("4-bp"))
             self.failIfEqual(c("5-bps1"), c("4-bps1"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("5-bps2"), c("4-bps2"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("5-bps2"), c("4-bps2"))
 
             # snapshot 6 copied a directory-it should be shared
             self.failIfEqual(c("6-b"), c("5-b"))
             self.failIfEqual(c("6-bp"), c("5-bp"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("6-bps1"), c("5-bps1"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("6-bps1"), c("5-bps1"))
             self.failIfEqual(c("6-bps2"), c("5-bps2"))
-            self.failUnlessEqual(c("6-bps2c1"), c("6-bps1"))
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(c("6-bps2c1"), c("6-bps1"))
 
         d.addCallback(check_consolidation)
 
diff --git a/src/allmydata/test/test_sftp.py b/src/allmydata/test/test_sftp.py
index 87c6c899..efba99e2 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/test/test_sftp.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/test/test_sftp.py
@@ -30,10 +30,11 @@ from allmydata.util.consumer import download_to_data
 from allmydata.immutable import upload
 from allmydata.test.no_network import GridTestMixin
 from allmydata.test.common import ShouldFailMixin
+from allmydata.test.common_util import ReallyEqualMixin
 
 timeout = 240
 
-class Handler(GridTestMixin, ShouldFailMixin, unittest.TestCase):
+class Handler(GridTestMixin, ShouldFailMixin, ReallyEqualMixin, unittest.TestCase):
     """This is a no-network unit test of the SFTPUserHandler and the abstractions it uses."""
 
     if not have_pycrypto:
diff --git a/src/allmydata/test/test_stringutils.py b/src/allmydata/test/test_stringutils.py
index 08311e7d..f3e57bb1 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/test/test_stringutils.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/test/test_stringutils.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     import tempfile
     import shutil
     import platform
-    
+
     if len(sys.argv) != 2:
         print "Usage: %s lumière" % sys.argv[0]
         sys.exit(1)
@@ -22,10 +22,12 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     print
     print "class MyWeirdOS(StringUtils, unittest.TestCase):"
     print "    uname = '%s'" % ' '.join(platform.uname())
-    print "    argv = %s" % repr(sys.argv[1])
+    if sys.platform != "win32":
+        print "    argv = %s" % repr(sys.argv[1])
     print "    platform = '%s'" % sys.platform
-    print "    filesystemencoding = '%s'" % sys.getfilesystemencoding()
-    print "    stdoutencoding = '%s'" % sys.stdout.encoding
+    print "    filesystem_encoding = '%s'" % sys.getfilesystemencoding()
+    print "    output_encoding = '%s'" % sys.stdout.encoding
+    print "    argv_encoding = '%s'" % (sys.platform == "win32" and 'utf-8' or sys.stdout.encoding)
 
     try:
         tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
@@ -48,47 +50,65 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
 
 from twisted.trial import unittest
 from mock import patch
-import locale, sys
+import sys
 
+from allmydata.test.common_util import ReallyEqualMixin
 from allmydata.util.stringutils import argv_to_unicode, unicode_to_url, \
-    unicode_to_stdout, unicode_platform, listdir_unicode, open_unicode, \
-    FilenameEncodingError, get_term_encoding
+    unicode_to_output, unicode_platform, listdir_unicode, open_unicode, \
+    FilenameEncodingError, get_output_encoding, _reload
+
 from twisted.python import usage
 
-class StringUtilsErrors(unittest.TestCase):
+class StringUtilsErrors(ReallyEqualMixin, unittest.TestCase):
+    def tearDown(self):
+        _reload()
+
     @patch('sys.stdout')
-    def test_get_term_encoding(self, mock):
-        mock.encoding = None
+    def test_get_output_encoding(self, mock_stdout):
+        mock_stdout.encoding = 'UTF-8'
+        _reload()
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(get_output_encoding(), 'utf-8')
+
+        mock_stdout.encoding = 'cp65001'
+        _reload()
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(get_output_encoding(), 'utf-8')
+
+        mock_stdout.encoding = 'koi8-r'
+        _reload()
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(get_output_encoding(), 'koi8-r')
+
+        mock_stdout.encoding = 'nonexistent_encoding'
+        self.failUnlessRaises(AssertionError, _reload)
 
-        self.failUnlessEqual(get_term_encoding().lower(), locale.getpreferredencoding().lower())
+        # TODO: mock_stdout.encoding = None
 
     @patch('sys.stdout')
     def test_argv_to_unicode(self, mock):
         mock.encoding = 'utf-8'
+        _reload()
 
         self.failUnlessRaises(usage.UsageError,
                               argv_to_unicode,
                               u'lumière'.encode('latin1'))
 
-    def test_unicode_to_url(self):
-        pass
-
     @patch('sys.stdout')
-    def test_unicode_to_stdout(self, mock):
+    def test_unicode_to_output(self, mock):
         # Encoding koi8-r cannot represent 'è'
         mock.encoding = 'koi8-r'
-        self.failUnlessEqual(unicode_to_stdout(u'lumière'), 'lumi?re')
+        _reload()
+        self.failUnlessRaises(UnicodeEncodeError, unicode_to_output, u'lumière')
 
     @patch('os.listdir')
     def test_unicode_normalization(self, mock):
-        # Pretend to run on an Unicode platform such as Windows
+        # Pretend to run on an Unicode platform
         orig_platform = sys.platform
-        sys.platform = 'win32'
-
-        mock.return_value = [u'A\u0308rtonwall.mp3']
-        self.failUnlessEqual(listdir_unicode(u'/dummy'), [u'\xc4rtonwall.mp3'])
-
-        sys.platform = orig_platform
+        try:
+            sys.platform = 'darwin'
+            mock.return_value = [u'A\u0308rtonwall.mp3']
+            _reload()
+            self.failUnlessReallyEqual(listdir_unicode(u'/dummy'), [u'\xc4rtonwall.mp3'])
+        finally:
+            sys.platform = orig_platform
 
 # The following tests applies only to platforms which don't store filenames as
 # Unicode entities on the filesystem.
@@ -100,18 +120,19 @@ class StringUtilsNonUnicodePlatform(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def tearDown(self):
         sys.platform = self.original_platform
+        _reload()
 
     @patch('sys.getfilesystemencoding')
     @patch('os.listdir')
     def test_listdir_unicode(self, mock_listdir, mock_getfilesystemencoding):
-        # What happen if a latin1-encoded filenames is encountered on an UTF-8
+        # What happens if latin1-encoded filenames are encountered on an UTF-8
         # filesystem?
         mock_listdir.return_value = [
             u'lumière'.encode('utf-8'),
             u'lumière'.encode('latin1')]
 
         mock_getfilesystemencoding.return_value = 'utf-8'
-       
+        _reload()
         self.failUnlessRaises(FilenameEncodingError,
                               listdir_unicode,
                               u'/dummy')
@@ -119,6 +140,7 @@ class StringUtilsNonUnicodePlatform(unittest.TestCase):
         # We're trying to list a directory whose name cannot be represented in
         # the filesystem encoding.  This should fail.
         mock_getfilesystemencoding.return_value = 'ascii'
+        _reload()
         self.failUnlessRaises(FilenameEncodingError,
                               listdir_unicode,
                               u'/lumière')
@@ -126,12 +148,12 @@ class StringUtilsNonUnicodePlatform(unittest.TestCase):
     @patch('sys.getfilesystemencoding')
     def test_open_unicode(self, mock):
         mock.return_value = 'ascii'
-
+        _reload()
         self.failUnlessRaises(FilenameEncodingError,
                               open_unicode,
-                              u'lumière')
+                              u'lumière', 'rb')
 
-class StringUtils:
+class StringUtils(ReallyEqualMixin):
     def setUp(self):
         # Mock sys.platform because unicode_platform() uses it
         self.original_platform = sys.platform
@@ -139,29 +161,30 @@ class StringUtils:
 
     def tearDown(self):
         sys.platform = self.original_platform
+        _reload()
 
     @patch('sys.stdout')
     def test_argv_to_unicode(self, mock):
         if 'argv' not in dir(self):
-            raise unittest.SkipTest("There's no way to pass non-ASCII arguments in CLI on this (mocked) platform")
-
-        mock.encoding = self.stdoutencoding
+            return
 
+        mock.encoding = self.output_encoding
         argu = u'lumière'
         argv = self.argv
-
-        self.failUnlessEqual(argv_to_unicode(argv), argu)
+        _reload()
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(argv_to_unicode(argv), argu)
 
     def test_unicode_to_url(self):
-        self.failUnless(unicode_to_url(u'lumière'), u'lumière'.encode('utf-8'))
+        self.failUnless(unicode_to_url(u'lumière'), "lumi\xc3\xa8re")
 
     @patch('sys.stdout')
-    def test_unicode_to_stdout(self, mock):
-        if 'argv' not in dir(self):
-            raise unittest.SkipTest("There's no way to pass non-ASCII arguments in CLI on this (mocked) platform")
+    def test_unicode_to_output(self, mock):
+        if 'output' not in dir(self):
+            return
 
-        mock.encoding = self.stdoutencoding
-        self.failUnlessEqual(unicode_to_stdout(u'lumière'), self.argv)
+        mock.encoding = self.output_encoding
+        _reload()
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(unicode_to_output(u'lumière'), self.output)
 
     def test_unicode_platform(self):
         matrix = {
@@ -171,113 +194,119 @@ class StringUtils:
           'darwin': True,
         }
 
-        self.failUnlessEqual(unicode_platform(), matrix[self.platform])
+        _reload()
+        self.failUnlessReallyEqual(unicode_platform(), matrix[self.platform])
  
     @patch('sys.getfilesystemencoding')
     @patch('os.listdir')
     def test_listdir_unicode(self, mock_listdir, mock_getfilesystemencoding):
         if 'dirlist' not in dir(self):
-            raise unittest.SkipTest("No way to write non-ASCII filenames on this system")
+            return
 
         mock_listdir.return_value = self.dirlist
-        mock_getfilesystemencoding.return_value = self.filesystemencoding
+        mock_getfilesystemencoding.return_value = self.filesystem_encoding
        
+        _reload()
         filenames = listdir_unicode(u'/dummy')
 
         for fname in TEST_FILENAMES:
             self.failUnless(isinstance(fname, unicode))
-
-            if fname not in filenames:
-                self.fail("Cannot find %r in %r" % (fname, filenames))
+            self.failUnlessIn(fname, filenames)
 
     @patch('sys.getfilesystemencoding')
     @patch('__builtin__.open')
     def test_open_unicode(self, mock_open, mock_getfilesystemencoding):
-        mock_getfilesystemencoding.return_value = self.filesystemencoding
-
+        mock_getfilesystemencoding.return_value = self.filesystem_encoding
         fn = u'/dummy_directory/lumière.txt'
 
+        _reload()
         try:
-            open_unicode(fn)
+            open_unicode(fn, 'rb')
         except FilenameEncodingError:
-            raise unittest.SkipTest("Cannot represent test filename on this (mocked) platform")
+            return
 
         # Pass Unicode string to open() on Unicode platforms
         if unicode_platform():
-            mock_open.assert_called_with(fn, 'r')
+            mock_open.assert_called_with(fn, 'rb')
 
         # Pass correctly encoded bytestrings to open() on non-Unicode platforms
         else:
-            fn_bytestring = fn.encode(self.filesystemencoding)
-            mock_open.assert_called_with(fn_bytestring, 'r')
+            fn_bytestring = fn.encode(self.filesystem_encoding)
+            mock_open.assert_called_with(fn_bytestring, 'rb')
+
 
 class UbuntuKarmicUTF8(StringUtils, unittest.TestCase):
     uname = 'Linux korn 2.6.31-14-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:05:01 UTC 2009 x86_64'
+    output = 'lumi\xc3\xa8re'
     argv = 'lumi\xc3\xa8re'
     platform = 'linux2'
-    filesystemencoding = 'UTF-8'
-    stdoutencoding = 'UTF-8'
+    filesystem_encoding = 'UTF-8'
+    output_encoding = 'UTF-8'
+    argv_encoding = 'UTF-8'
     dirlist = ['test_file', '\xc3\x84rtonwall.mp3', 'Blah blah.txt']
 
-
 class UbuntuKarmicLatin1(StringUtils, unittest.TestCase):
     uname = 'Linux korn 2.6.31-14-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:05:01 UTC 2009 x86_64'
+    output = 'lumi\xe8re'
     argv = 'lumi\xe8re'
     platform = 'linux2'
-    filesystemencoding = 'ISO-8859-1'
-    stdoutencoding = 'ISO-8859-1'
+    filesystem_encoding = 'ISO-8859-1'
+    output_encoding = 'ISO-8859-1'
+    argv_encoding = 'ISO-8859-1'
     dirlist = ['test_file', 'Blah blah.txt', '\xc4rtonwall.mp3']
 
 class WindowsXP(StringUtils, unittest.TestCase):
     uname = 'Windows XP 5.1.2600 x86 x86 Family 15 Model 75 Step ping 2, AuthenticAMD'
-    argv = 'lumi\xe8re'
+    output = 'lumi\x8are'
+    argv = 'lumi\xc3\xa8re'
     platform = 'win32'
-    filesystemencoding = 'mbcs'
-    stdoutencoding = 'cp850'
+    filesystem_encoding = 'mbcs'
+    output_encoding = 'cp850'
+    argv_encoding = 'utf-8'
     dirlist = [u'Blah blah.txt', u'test_file', u'\xc4rtonwall.mp3']
 
-    todo = "Unicode arguments on the command-line is not yet supported under Windows, see bug #565."
-
 class WindowsXP_UTF8(StringUtils, unittest.TestCase):
     uname = 'Windows XP 5.1.2600 x86 x86 Family 15 Model 75 Step ping 2, AuthenticAMD'
-    argv = 'lumi\xe8re'
+    output = 'lumi\xc3\xa8re'
+    argv = 'lumi\xc3\xa8re'
     platform = 'win32'
-    filesystemencoding = 'mbcs'
-    stdoutencoding = 'cp65001'
+    filesystem_encoding = 'mbcs'
+    output_encoding = 'cp65001'
+    argv_encoding = 'utf-8'
     dirlist = [u'Blah blah.txt', u'test_file', u'\xc4rtonwall.mp3']
 
-    todo = "Unicode arguments on the command-line is not yet supported under Windows, see bug #565."
-
 class WindowsVista(StringUtils, unittest.TestCase):
     uname = 'Windows Vista 6.0.6000 x86 x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 11, GenuineIntel'
-    argv = 'lumi\xe8re'
+    output = 'lumi\x8are'
+    argv = 'lumi\xc3\xa8re'
     platform = 'win32'
-    filesystemencoding = 'mbcs'
-    stdoutencoding = 'cp850'
+    filesystem_encoding = 'mbcs'
+    output_encoding = 'cp850'
+    argv_encoding = 'utf-8'
     dirlist = [u'Blah blah.txt', u'test_file', u'\xc4rtonwall.mp3']
 
-    todo = "Unicode arguments on the command-line is not yet supported under Windows, see bug #565."
-
 class MacOSXLeopard(StringUtils, unittest.TestCase):
     uname = 'Darwin g5.local 9.8.0 Darwin Kernel Version 9.8.0: Wed Jul 15 16:57:01 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1228.15.4~1/RELEASE_PPC Power Macintosh powerpc'
+    output = 'lumi\xc3\xa8re'
     argv = 'lumi\xc3\xa8re'
     platform = 'darwin'
-    filesystemencoding = 'utf-8'
-    stdoutencoding = 'UTF-8'
+    filesystem_encoding = 'utf-8'
+    output_encoding = 'UTF-8'
+    argv_encoding = 'UTF-8'
     dirlist = [u'A\u0308rtonwall.mp3', u'Blah blah.txt', u'test_file']
 
 class MacOSXLeopard7bit(StringUtils, unittest.TestCase):
     uname = 'Darwin g5.local 9.8.0 Darwin Kernel Version 9.8.0: Wed Jul 15 16:57:01 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1228.15.4~1/RELEASE_PPC Power Macintosh powerpc'
-    #argv = 'lumiere'
     platform = 'darwin'
-    filesystemencoding = 'utf-8'
-    stdoutencoding = 'US-ASCII'
+    filesystem_encoding = 'utf-8'
+    output_encoding = 'US-ASCII'
+    argv_encoding = 'US-ASCII'
     dirlist = [u'A\u0308rtonwall.mp3', u'Blah blah.txt', u'test_file']
 
 class OpenBSD(StringUtils, unittest.TestCase):
     uname = 'OpenBSD 4.1 GENERIC#187 i386 Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.80GHz ("GenuineIntel" 686-class)'
-    #argv = 'lumiere'
     platform = 'openbsd4'
-    filesystemencoding = '646'
-    stdoutencoding = '646'
+    filesystem_encoding = '646'
+    output_encoding = '646'
+    argv_encoding = '646'
     # Oops, I cannot write filenames containing non-ascii characters
diff --git a/src/allmydata/test/test_system.py b/src/allmydata/test/test_system.py
index c1b1f7fa..59c8e7f1 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/test/test_system.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/test/test_system.py
@@ -1416,7 +1416,7 @@ class SystemTest(SystemTestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(run, "list-aliases")
         def _check_aliases_1((out,err)):
             self.failUnlessEqual(err, "")
-            self.failUnlessEqual(out, "tahoe: %s\n" % private_uri)
+            self.failUnlessEqual(out.strip(" \n"), "tahoe: %s" % private_uri)
         d.addCallback(_check_aliases_1)
 
         # now that that's out of the way, remove root_dir.cap and work with
diff --git a/src/allmydata/util/stringutils.py b/src/allmydata/util/stringutils.py
index ab06ed6e..eb511914 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/util/stringutils.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/util/stringutils.py
@@ -5,125 +5,235 @@ unicode and back.
 
 import sys
 import os
+import re
 import unicodedata
 from allmydata.util.assertutil import precondition
 from twisted.python import usage
 import locale
 
-def get_term_encoding():
+
+def _canonical_encoding(encoding):
+    if encoding is None:
+        encoding = 'utf-8'
+    encoding = encoding.lower()
+    if encoding == "cp65001":
+        encoding = 'utf-8'
+    elif encoding == "us-ascii" or encoding == "646":
+        encoding = 'ascii'
+
+    # sometimes Python returns an encoding name that it doesn't support for conversion
+    # fail early if this happens
+    try:
+        u"test".encode(encoding)
+    except LookupError:
+        raise AssertionError("The character encoding '%s' is not supported for conversion." % (encoding,))
+
+    return encoding
+
+filesystem_encoding = None
+output_encoding = None
+argv_encoding = None
+is_unicode_platform = False
+
+def _reload():
+    global filesystem_encoding, output_encoding, argv_encoding, is_unicode_platform
+
+    filesystem_encoding = _canonical_encoding(sys.getfilesystemencoding())
+    output_encoding = _canonical_encoding(sys.stdout.encoding or locale.getpreferredencoding())
+    if sys.platform == 'win32':
+        # arguments are converted to utf-8 in windows/tahoe.py
+        argv_encoding = 'utf-8'
+    else:
+        argv_encoding = output_encoding
+    is_unicode_platform = sys.platform in ["win32", "darwin"]
+
+_reload()
+
+
+def get_filesystem_encoding():
     """
-    Returns expected encoding for writing to the terminal and reading
-    arguments from the command-line.
+    Returns expected encoding for local filenames.
     """
+    return filesystem_encoding
 
-    if sys.stdout.encoding:
-        return sys.stdout.encoding
-    else:
-        return locale.getpreferredencoding()
+def get_output_encoding():
+    """
+    Returns expected encoding for writing to stdout or stderr.
+    """
+    return output_encoding
 
-def argv_to_unicode(s):
+def get_argv_encoding():
     """
-    Decode given argv element to unicode.
+    Returns expected encoding for command-line arguments.
     """
-    # Try to decode the command-line argument with the encoding returned by
-    # get_term_encoding(), if this fails print an error message to the user.
+    return argv_encoding
 
+def argv_to_unicode(s):
+    """
+    Decode given argv element to unicode. If this fails, raise a UsageError.
+    """
     precondition(isinstance(s, str), s)
 
     try:
-        return unicode(s, get_term_encoding())
+        return unicode(s, argv_encoding)
     except UnicodeDecodeError:
-        raise usage.UsageError("Argument '%s' cannot be decoded as %s." %
-                               (s, get_term_encoding()))
+        raise usage.UsageError("Argument %s cannot be decoded as %s." %
+                               (quote_output(s), argv_encoding))
 
 def unicode_to_url(s):
     """
     Encode an unicode object used in an URL.
     """
-    # According to RFC 2718, non-ascii characters in url's must be UTF-8 encoded.
+    # According to RFC 2718, non-ascii characters in URLs must be UTF-8 encoded.
 
-    precondition(isinstance(s, unicode), s)
+    # FIXME
+    return to_str(s)
+    #precondition(isinstance(s, unicode), s)
+    #return s.encode('utf-8')
+
+def to_str(s):
+    if s is None or isinstance(s, str):
+        return s
     return s.encode('utf-8')
 
-def unicode_to_stdout(s):
+def to_argv(s):
+    if isinstance(s, str):
+        return s
+    return s.encode(argv_encoding)
+
+PRINTABLE_ASCII = re.compile(r'^[ -~\n\r]*$', re.DOTALL)
+PRINTABLE_8BIT = re.compile(r'^[ -&(-~\n\r\x80-\xFF]*$', re.DOTALL)
+
+def is_printable_ascii(s):
+    return PRINTABLE_ASCII.search(s) is not None
+
+def unicode_to_output(s):
     """
-    Encode an unicode object for representation on stdout.
+    Encode an unicode object for representation on stdout or stderr.
     """
-
     precondition(isinstance(s, unicode), s)
-    return s.encode(get_term_encoding(), 'replace')
 
-def unicode_platform():
+    try:
+        out = s.encode(output_encoding)
+    except UnicodeEncodeError:
+        raise UnicodeEncodeError(output_encoding, s, 0, 0,
+                                 "A string could not be encoded as %s for output to the terminal:\n%r" %
+                                 (output_encoding, repr(s)))
+
+    if PRINTABLE_8BIT.search(out) is None:
+        raise UnicodeEncodeError(output_encoding, s, 0, 0,
+                                 "A string encoded as %s for output to the terminal contained unsafe bytes:\n%r" %
+                                 (output_encoding, repr(s)))
+    return out
+
+def quote_output(s, quotemarks=True):
     """
-    Does the current platform handle Unicode filenames natively ?
+    Encode either a Unicode string or a UTF-8-encoded bytestring for representation
+    on stdout or stderr, tolerating errors. If 'quotemarks' is True, the string is
+    always surrounded by single quotes; otherwise, it is quoted only if necessary to
+    avoid ambiguity or control bytes in the output.
     """
+    precondition(isinstance(s, (str, unicode)), s)
+
+    if isinstance(s, str):
+        try:
+            s = s.decode('utf-8')
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            return 'b' + repr(s)
+
+    try:
+        out = s.encode(output_encoding)
+    except UnicodeEncodeError:
+        return repr(s)
+
+    if PRINTABLE_8BIT.search(out) is None:
+        return repr(out)
 
-    return sys.platform in ('win32', 'darwin')
+    if quotemarks:
+        return "'" + out.replace("\\", "\\\\").replace("'", "\'") + "'"
+    else:
+        return out
+
+def quote_path(path, quotemarks=True):
+    return quote_output("/".join(map(to_str, path)), quotemarks=quotemarks)
+
+
+def unicode_platform():
+    """
+    Does the current platform handle Unicode filenames natively?
+    """
+    return is_unicode_platform
 
 class FilenameEncodingError(Exception):
     """
     Filename cannot be encoded using the current encoding of your filesystem
     (%s). Please configure your locale correctly or rename this file.
     """
-
     pass
 
-def listdir_unicode_unix(path):
+def listdir_unicode_fallback(path):
     """
-    This function emulates an Unicode API under Unix similar to one available
+    This function emulates a fallback Unicode API similar to one available
     under Windows or MacOS X.
 
     If badly encoded filenames are encountered, an exception is raised.
     """
     precondition(isinstance(path, unicode), path)
 
-    encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding()
     try:
-        byte_path = path.encode(encoding)
+        byte_path = path.encode(filesystem_encoding)
     except UnicodeEncodeError:
         raise FilenameEncodingError(path)
 
     try:
-        return [unicode(fn, encoding) for fn in os.listdir(byte_path)]
+        return [unicode(fn, filesystem_encoding) for fn in os.listdir(byte_path)]
     except UnicodeDecodeError:
         raise FilenameEncodingError(fn)
 
-def listdir_unicode(path, encoding = None):
+def listdir_unicode(path):
     """
     Wrapper around listdir() which provides safe access to the convenient
-    Unicode API even under Unix.
+    Unicode API even under platforms that don't provide one natively.
     """
-
     precondition(isinstance(path, unicode), path)
 
     # On Windows and MacOS X, the Unicode API is used
-    if unicode_platform():
-        dirlist = os.listdir(path)
-
     # On other platforms (ie. Unix systems), the byte-level API is used
+
+    if is_unicode_platform:
+        dirlist = os.listdir(path)
     else:
-        dirlist = listdir_unicode_unix(path)
+        dirlist = listdir_unicode_fallback(path)
 
     # Normalize the resulting unicode filenames
     #
-    # This prevents different OS from generating non-equal unicode strings for
+    # This prevents different OSes from generating non-equal unicode strings for
     # the same filename representation
     return [unicodedata.normalize('NFC', fname) for fname in dirlist]
 
-def open_unicode(path, mode='r'):
+def open_unicode(path, mode):
     """
     Wrapper around open() which provides safe access to the convenient Unicode
     API even under Unix.
     """
-
     precondition(isinstance(path, unicode), path)
 
-    if unicode_platform():
-        return open(path, mode)
+    if is_unicode_platform:
+        return open(os.path.expanduser(path), mode)
     else:
-        encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding()
-
         try:
-            return open(path.encode(encoding), mode)
+            return open(os.path.expanduser(path.encode(filesystem_encoding)), mode)
         except UnicodeEncodeError:
             raise FilenameEncodingError(path)
+
+def abspath_expanduser_unicode(path):
+    precondition(isinstance(path, unicode), path)
+
+    if is_unicode_platform:
+        return os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(path))
+    else:
+        try:
+            pathstr = path.encode(filesystem_encoding)
+            return os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(pathstr)).decode(filesystem_encoding)
+        except (UnicodeEncodeError, UnicodeDecodeError):
+            raise FilenameEncodingError(path)
diff --git a/windows/tahoe.py b/windows/tahoe.py
index 38dd1a78..42161f48 100644
--- a/windows/tahoe.py
+++ b/windows/tahoe.py
@@ -3,5 +3,17 @@ pkgresutil.install() # this is done before nevow is imported by depends
 import depends # import dependencies so that py2exe finds them
 _junk = depends # appease pyflakes
 
+import sys
+from ctypes import WINFUNCTYPE, POINTER, byref, c_wchar_p, c_int, windll
 from allmydata.scripts import runner
-runner.run(install_node_control=False)
+
+GetCommandLineW = WINFUNCTYPE(c_wchar_p)(("GetCommandLineW", windll.kernel32))
+CommandLineToArgvW = WINFUNCTYPE(POINTER(c_wchar_p), c_wchar_p, POINTER(c_int)) \
+                         (("CommandLineToArgvW", windll.shell32))
+
+argc = c_int(0)
+argv = CommandLineToArgvW(GetCommandLineW(), byref(argc))
+argv_utf8 = [argv[i].encode('utf-8') for i in xrange(1, argc.value)]
+
+rc = runner(argv_utf8, install_node_control=False)
+sys.exit(rc)
\ No newline at end of file