diff --git a/pyopencl/__init__.py b/pyopencl/__init__.py
index 8007e100813f0f7bed340ea536a6f37a5ef4a28d..8c1dd2a112c810ccd662f4f60169d81e08484cac 100644
--- a/pyopencl/__init__.py
+++ b/pyopencl/__init__.py
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ class Program(object):
 
     def build(self, options=[], devices=None, cache_dir=None):
         if isinstance(options, basestring):
-            options = [str(options)]
+            options = [options.encode("utf8")]
 
         options = (options
                 + _DEFAULT_BUILD_OPTIONS
diff --git a/pyopencl/ipython_ext.py b/pyopencl/ipython_ext.py
index da5e512d278318039560f6d99a1788e292412188..9fed378b113a7ef37e7b2fc3d5c964523617a990 100644
--- a/pyopencl/ipython_ext.py
+++ b/pyopencl/ipython_ext.py
@@ -23,14 +23,11 @@ class PyOpenCLMagics(Magics):
             except KeyError:
                 ctx = None
 
-        if not isinstance(ctx, cl.Context):
-            ctx = None
-
-        if ctx is None:
+        if ctx is None or not isinstance(ctx, cl.Context):
             raise RuntimeError("unable to locate cl context, which must be "
                     "present in namespace as 'cl_ctx' or 'ctx'")
 
-        prg = cl.Program(ctx, cell.encode("utf8")).build(options=line)
+        prg = cl.Program(ctx, cell.encode("utf8")).build(options=line.encode("utf8"))
 
         for knl in prg.all_kernels():
             self.shell.user_ns[knl.function_name] = knl