Make it 1.5.2 compatible again.
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/msvccompiler.py b/Lib/distutils/msvccompiler.py
index 3533664..79a4901 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/msvccompiler.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/msvccompiler.py
@@ -117,10 +117,11 @@
                     if string.upper(p) == path:
                         V = string.split(v,';')
                         for v in V:
-                            try:
-                                v = v.encode("mbcs")
-                            except UnicodeError:
-                                pass
+                            if hasattr(v, "encode"):
+                                try:
+                                    v = v.encode("mbcs")
+                                except UnicodeError:
+                                    pass
                             if v == '' or v in L: continue
                             L.append(v)
                         break