diff --git a/jupyterhub/app.py b/jupyterhub/app.py
index 7e47a72f..f3acbb8b 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/app.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import io
 import logging
 import os
 from datetime import datetime
-from six import text_type
 from subprocess import Popen
 
 try:
@@ -667,8 +666,10 @@ class JupyterHubApp(Application):
                 answer = ask()
             if answer.startswith('n'):
                 return
-
-        config_text = text_type(self.generate_config_file(), 'utf8')
+        
+        config_text = self.generate_config_file()
+        if isinstance(config_text, bytes):
+            config_text = config_text.decode('utf8')
         print("Writing default config to: %s" % self.config_file)
         with io.open(self.config_file, encoding='utf8', mode='w') as f:
             f.write(config_text)
diff --git a/jupyterhub/orm.py b/jupyterhub/orm.py
index 50aa83d8..9b385d97 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/orm.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/orm.py
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ import json
 import socket
 import uuid
 
+from six import text_type
+
 from tornado import gen
 from tornado.log import app_log
 from tornado.httpclient import HTTPRequest, AsyncHTTPClient, HTTPError
@@ -24,8 +26,6 @@ from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker, relationship, backref
 from sqlalchemy.pool import StaticPool
 from sqlalchemy import create_engine
 
-from IPython.utils.py3compat import str_to_unicode
-
 from .utils import random_port, url_path_join, wait_for_server, wait_for_http_server
 
 
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ def new_token(*args, **kwargs):
     
     For now, just UUIDs.
     """
-    return str_to_unicode(uuid.uuid4().hex)
+    return text_type(uuid.uuid4().hex)
 
 
 class JSONDict(TypeDecorator):
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
index 7f844a51..9f771261 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ except ImportError:
 
 from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
 
-from IPython.utils.py3compat import unicode_type
+from six import text_type
 
 from ..spawner import LocalProcessSpawner
 from ..app import JupyterHubApp
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ from .. import orm
 
 def mock_authenticate(username, password, service='login'):
     # mimic simplepam's failure to handle unicode
-    if isinstance(username, unicode_type):
+    if isinstance(username, text_type):
         return False
-    if isinstance(password, unicode_type):
+    if isinstance(password, text_type):
         return False
     
     # just use equality for testing
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py b/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
index 5332e9e4..ed31b701 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
@@ -1,11 +1,27 @@
 """Test the JupyterHubApp entry point"""
 
+import io
+import os
 import sys
 from subprocess import check_output
+from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
 
 def test_help_all():
     out = check_output([sys.executable, '-m', 'jupyterhub', '--help-all']).decode('utf8', 'replace')
     assert u'--ip' in out
     assert u'--JupyterHubApp.ip' in out
 
-    
\ No newline at end of file
+def test_generate_config():
+    with NamedTemporaryFile(prefix='jupyter_hub_config', suffix='.py') as tf:
+        cfg_file = tf.name
+    
+    out = check_output([sys.executable, '-m', 'jupyterhub',
+        '--generate-config', '-f', cfg_file]
+    ).decode('utf8', 'replace')
+    assert os.path.exists(cfg_file)
+    with io.open(cfg_file) as f:
+        cfg_text = f.read()
+    os.remove(cfg_file)
+    assert cfg_file in out
+    assert 'Spawner.cmd' in cfg_text
+    assert 'Authenticator.whitelist' in cfg_text