title: Python unicode error dependent on the path I supply?
body: <p>I have been having some issues executing a command (launching IPython) over SSH. In troubleshooting it, I've come across something I can't understand. IPython either launches or doesn't dependent on whether I supply the full path or not - what's going wrong here?</p>
  
  <p><code>/home/ubuntu/anaconda/bin/ipython notebook —-profile=server</code></p>
  
  <p>...gives me the errors below, while:</p>
  
  <p><code>~/anaconda/bin/ipython notebook --profile=server</code></p>
  
  <p>...loads IPython flawlessly.</p>
  
  <p>It's worth confirming that when I go to my home directory by typing cd, I do indeed get /home/ubuntu</p>
  
  <p>Full stack trace:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>ubuntu@ip-10-204-37-226:~$ /home/ubuntu/anaconda/bin/ipython notebook
    —-profile=server Traceback (most recent call last):   File
    "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/bin/ipython", line 6, in 
        sys.exit(start_ipython())   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/<strong>init</strong>.py",
    line 118, in start_ipython
        return launch_new_instance(argv=argv, **kwargs)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py",
    line 544, in launch_instance
        app.initialize(argv)   File "", line 2, in initialize   File
    "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py",
    line 89, in catch_config_error
        return method(app, *args, **kwargs)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/terminal/ipapp.py",
    line 312, in initialize
        super(TerminalIPythonApp, self).initialize(argv)   File "", line 2, in initialize   File
    "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py",
    line 89, in catch_config_error
        return method(app, *args, **kwargs)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/core/application.py",
    line 362, in initialize
        self.parse_command_line(argv)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/terminal/ipapp.py",
    line 307, in parse_command_line
        return super(TerminalIPythonApp, self).parse_command_line(argv)   File "", line 2, in parse_command_line   File
    "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py",
    line 89, in catch_config_error
        return method(app, *args, **kwargs)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py",
    line 463, in parse_command_line
        self.argv = list(argv)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/utils/traitlets.py",
    line 315, in <strong>set</strong>
        new_value = self._validate(obj, value)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/utils/traitlets.py",
    line 323, in _validate
        return self.validate(obj, value)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/utils/traitlets.py",
    line 1215, in validate
        value = self.validate_elements(obj, value)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/utils/traitlets.py",
    line 1291, in validate_elements
        return super(List, self).validate_elements(obj, value)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/utils/traitlets.py",
    line 1225, in validate_elements
        v = self._trait.validate(obj, v)   File "/home/ubuntu/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/utils/traitlets.py",
    line 1028, in validate
        return unicode(value) UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xe2 in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)</p>
  </blockquote>