diff --git a/rpmlint-1.9-py3_b2s.patch b/rpmlint-1.9-py3_b2s.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec27f0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rpmlint-1.9-py3_b2s.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+From 4875475c43098e37a4d5d4e2ee2f9dfea643cc78 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: =?UTF-8?q?Ville=20Skytt=C3=A4?= <ville.skytta@iki.fi>
+Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2017 09:26:35 +0300
+Subject: [PATCH] Pkg.b2s: Pass through str as-is on Python 3
+
+Things change, and we may start getting str where we previously got
+bytes, such as what has apparently now happened with some versions of
+the return value of magic.descriptor(fd) in Fedora Rawhide.
+
+https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1439941
+---
+ Pkg.py           | 4 ++--
+ test/test.Pkg.py | 4 ++++
+ 2 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
+
+Index: rpmlint-rpmlint-1.9/Pkg.py
+===================================================================
+--- rpmlint-rpmlint-1.9.orig/Pkg.py
++++ rpmlint-rpmlint-1.9/Pkg.py
+@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ if sys.version_info[0] > 2:
+     unicode = str
+ 
+     def b2s(b):
+-        if b is None:
+-            return None
++        if b is None or isinstance(b, str):
++            return b
+         if isinstance(b, (list, tuple)):
+             return [b2s(x) for x in b]
+         return b.decode(errors='replace')
+Index: rpmlint-rpmlint-1.9/test/test.Pkg.py
+===================================================================
+--- rpmlint-rpmlint-1.9.orig/test/test.Pkg.py
++++ rpmlint-rpmlint-1.9/test/test.Pkg.py
+@@ -30,5 +30,10 @@ class TestPkg(unittest.TestCase):
+         ):
+             self.assertFalse(Pkg.rangeCompare(req, prov))
+ 
++    def test_b2s(self):
++        for thing in ("foo", ["foo"]):
++            self.assertEqual(thing, Pkg.b2s(thing))
++
++
+ if __name__ == '__main__':
+     unittest.main()
diff --git a/rpmlint-1.9-py3_test_b2s.patch b/rpmlint-1.9-py3_test_b2s.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d83317b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rpmlint-1.9-py3_test_b2s.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+From 73d62d4421a06a3282c1a71625b070e3ca58b624 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: =?UTF-8?q?Ville=20Skytt=C3=A4?= <ville.skytta@iki.fi>
+Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2017 09:55:15 +0300
+Subject: [PATCH] Pkg.b2s: Add some more test cases
+
+---
+ test/test.Pkg.py | 4 +++-
+ 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+Index: rpmlint-rpmlint-1.9/test/test.Pkg.py
+===================================================================
+--- rpmlint-rpmlint-1.9.orig/test/test.Pkg.py
++++ rpmlint-rpmlint-1.9/test/test.Pkg.py
+@@ -31,8 +31,10 @@ class TestPkg(unittest.TestCase):
+             self.assertFalse(Pkg.rangeCompare(req, prov))
+ 
+     def test_b2s(self):
+-        for thing in ("foo", ["foo"]):
++        for thing in ("foo", ["foo"], None, []):
+             self.assertEqual(thing, Pkg.b2s(thing))
++        self.assertEqual("foo", Pkg.b2s(b"foo"))
++        self.assertEqual(["foo"], Pkg.b2s([b"foo"]))
+ 
+ 
+ if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/rpmlint.spec b/rpmlint.spec
index ab9191e..254dd46 100644
--- a/rpmlint.spec
+++ b/rpmlint.spec
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 Name:           rpmlint
 Version:        1.9
-Release:        8%{?dist}
+Release:        9%{?dist}
 Summary:        Tool for checking common errors in RPM packages
 Group:          Development/Tools
 License:        GPLv2
@@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ Patch2:		rpmlint-1.9-fix-uep.patch
 # Python 3.5.3 bytecode magic value update
 # https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpmlint/commit/beb32c4cfbff4aa979141941f534d2c6b7a18639 (hand-rediffed)
 Patch3:		rpmlint-1.9-py35magic.patch
+# rpmlint fails: str object has no attribute decode
+# https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpmlint/commit/4875475c43098e37a4d5d4e2ee2f9dfea643cc78 (hand-rediffed)
+# https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpmlint/commit/73d62d4421a06a3282c1a71625b070e3ca58b624 (hand-rediffed)
+# https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1439941
+Patch4:		rpmlint-1.9-py3_b2s.patch
+Patch5:		rpmlint-1.9-py3_test_b2s.patch
 BuildArch:      noarch
 %if %{with python3}
 BuildRequires:  python3-devel
@@ -96,6 +102,8 @@ and source packages as well as spec files can be checked.
 %patch1 -p1 -b .py36magic
 %patch2 -p1 -b .fixuep
 %patch3 -p1 -b .py35magic
+%patch4 -p1 -b .py3b2s
+%patch5 -p1 -b .py35b2s_test
 sed -i -e /MenuCheck/d Config.py
 cp -p config config.example
 install -pm 644 %{SOURCE3} config
@@ -145,6 +153,9 @@ make check PYTHON=%{python} PYTEST=%{pytest} FLAKE8=%{flake8}
 %{_mandir}/man1/rpmlint.1*
 
 %changelog
+* Fri Apr 07 2017 Björn Esser <besser82@fedoraproject.org> - 1.9-9
+- Upstream fix for str object has no attribute decode (bz1439941)
+
 * Thu Mar 9 2017 Charalampos Stratakis <cstratak@redhat.com> - 1.9-8
 - Update Python 3.5.3 magic bytecode value