How to set sys.flags when calling python from PythonCall.jl?

[jarlela]

Problem: when importing a package with pyimport I do get a UnicodeDecodeError as python is trying to read utf-8 encoded file using ascii codec. The import works without any problem if I run it directly in the python repl.

I've found that sys.flags.utf8_mode are different in these two cases, when calling from PythonCall this flag is always 0. Further, I've found no way to manipulate this flag. Setting ENV["PYTHONUTF8"]=1 has no effect.

I'm I missing something? How can I get this to work?