diff --git a/lib/galaxy/tool_shed/galaxy_install/tool_dependencies/recipe/step_handler.py b/lib/galaxy/tool_shed/galaxy_install/tool_dependencies/recipe/step_handler.py
index f8ca76ff85d..9f75404c000 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/tool_shed/galaxy_install/tool_dependencies/recipe/step_handler.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/tool_shed/galaxy_install/tool_dependencies/recipe/step_handler.py
@@ -549,9 +549,9 @@ class DownloadByUrl(Download, RecipeStep):
         if is_binary:
             log_file = os.path.join(install_environment.install_dir, basic_util.INSTALLATION_LOG)
             if os.path.exists(log_file):
-                logfile = open(log_file, 'ab')
+                logfile = open(log_file, 'a')
             else:
-                logfile = open(log_file, 'wb')
+                logfile = open(log_file, 'w')
             logfile.write('Successfully downloaded from url: %s\n' % action_dict['url'])
             logfile.close()
         log.debug('Successfully downloaded from url: %s' % action_dict['url'])
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/tool_shed/galaxy_install/tool_dependencies/recipe/tag_handler.py b/lib/galaxy/tool_shed/galaxy_install/tool_dependencies/recipe/tag_handler.py
index c1ef423a565..51ce81cb0c2 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/tool_shed/galaxy_install/tool_dependencies/recipe/tag_handler.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/tool_shed/galaxy_install/tool_dependencies/recipe/tag_handler.py
@@ -253,10 +253,10 @@ class Repository(RecipeTag, SyncDatabase):
         text = url_get(tool_shed_url, password_mgr=self.app.tool_shed_registry.url_auth(tool_shed_url), pathspec=pathspec, params=params)
         if text:
             # Write the contents to a temporary file on disk so it can be reloaded and parsed.
-            fh = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile('wb', prefix="tmp-toolshed-cttdc")
+            fh = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile('w', prefix="tmp-toolshed-cttdc")
             tmp_filename = fh.name
             fh.close()
-            fh = open(tmp_filename, 'wb')
+            fh = open(tmp_filename, 'w')
             fh.write(text)
             fh.close()
             return tmp_filename