scmutil: avoid using basestring and add explicit handling of unicodes
This resolves some Python 3 defects, and I don't think it is a
meaningful behavior change in Python 2.
Differential Revision: https://phab.mercurial-scm.org/D2611
Mercurial's documentation is kept in reStructuredText format, which is
a simple plain text format that's easy to read and edit:
http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html
It's also convertible to a variety of other formats including standard
UNIX man page format and HTML. You'll need to install Docutils:
http://docutils.sourceforge.net/
Use the Makefile in this directory to generate the man and HTML pages.