diff -ruN mailman-2.1.12-a/Mailman/Archiver/pipermail.py mailman-2.1.12-b/Mailman/Archiver/pipermail.py

--- mailman-2.1.12-a/Mailman/Archiver/pipermail.py	2009-02-23 22:23:35.000000000 +0100

+++ mailman-2.1.12-b/Mailman/Archiver/pipermail.py	2009-07-28 12:19:53.000000000 +0200

@@ -45,24 +45,27 @@

 def fixAuthor(author):

     "Canonicalize a name into Last, First format"

-    # If there's a comma, guess that it's already in "Last, First" format

-    if ',' in author:

+    try:

+        # If there's a comma, guess that it's already in "Last, First" format

+        if ',' in author:

+            return author

+        L = author.split()

+        i = len(L) - 1

+        if i == 0:

+            return author # The string's one word--forget it

+        if author.upper() == author or author.lower() == author:

+            # Damn, the name is all upper- or lower-case.

+            while i > 0 and L[i-1].lower() in smallNameParts:

+                i = i - 1

+        else:

+            # Mixed case; assume that small parts of the last name will be

+            # in lowercase, and check them against the list.

+            while i>0 and (L[i-1][0] in lowercase or

+                           L[i-1].lower() in smallNameParts):

+                i = i - 1

+        author = SPACE.join(L[-1:] + L[i:-1]) + ', ' + SPACE.join(L[:i])

+    except UnicodeDecodeError:

         return author

-    L = author.split()

-    i = len(L) - 1

-    if i == 0:

-        return author # The string's one word--forget it

-    if author.upper() == author or author.lower() == author:

-        # Damn, the name is all upper- or lower-case.

-        while i > 0 and L[i-1].lower() in smallNameParts:

-            i = i - 1

-    else:

-        # Mixed case; assume that small parts of the last name will be

-        # in lowercase, and check them against the list.

-        while i>0 and (L[i-1][0] in lowercase or

-                       L[i-1].lower() in smallNameParts):

-            i = i - 1

-    author = SPACE.join(L[-1:] + L[i:-1]) + ', ' + SPACE.join(L[:i])

     return author

 # Abstract class for databases