@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ def _iter_expand_paths(self: "IndexFile", paths: Sequence[PathLike]) -> Iterator
         def raise_exc(e: Exception) -> NoReturn:
             raise e
 
-        r = os.fspath(self.repo.working_tree_dir)
+        r = str(self.repo.working_tree_dir)
         rs = r + os.sep
         for path in paths:
             abs_path = os.fspath(path)
@@ -656,7 +656,7 @@ def _to_relative_path(self, path: PathLike) -> PathLike:
             return path
         if self.repo.bare:
             raise InvalidGitRepositoryError("require non-bare repository")
-        if not osp.normpath(path).startswith(os.fspath(self.repo.working_tree_dir)):
+        if not osp.normpath(path).startswith(str(self.repo.working_tree_dir)):
             raise ValueError("Absolute path %r is not in git repository at %r" % (path, self.repo.working_tree_dir))
         result = os.path.relpath(path, self.repo.working_tree_dir)
         if os.fspath(path).endswith(os.sep) and not result.endswith(os.sep):
@@ -731,7 +731,7 @@ def _entries_for_paths(
             for path in paths:
                 if osp.isabs(path):
                     abspath = path
-                    gitrelative_path = path[len(os.fspath(self.repo.working_tree_dir)) + 1 :]
+                    gitrelative_path = path[len(str(self.repo.working_tree_dir)) + 1 :]
                 else:
                     gitrelative_path = path
                     if self.repo.working_tree_dir:
@@ -1036,7 +1036,7 @@ def remove(
         args.append("--")
 
         # Preprocess paths.
-        paths = self._items_to_rela_paths(items)
+        paths = list(map(os.fspath, self._items_to_rela_paths(items)))  # type: ignore[arg-type]
         removed_paths = self.repo.git.rm(args, paths, **kwargs).splitlines()
 
         # Process output to gain proper paths.
@@ -1363,7 +1363,7 @@ def make_exc() -> GitCommandError:
                     if not folder.endswith("/"):
                         folder += "/"
                     for entry in self.entries.values():
-                        if entry.path.startswith(folder):
+                        if os.fspath(entry.path).startswith(folder):
                             p = entry.path
                             self._write_path_to_stdin(proc, p, p, make_exc, fprogress, read_from_stdout=False)
                             checked_out_files.append(p)
 
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 
 # typing ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-from typing import Any, Callable, TYPE_CHECKING, Optional, Type
+from typing import Any, Callable, TYPE_CHECKING, Optional, Type, cast
 
 from git.types import Literal, PathLike, _T
 
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ def git_working_dir(func: Callable[..., _T]) -> Callable[..., _T]:
     @wraps(func)
     def set_git_working_dir(self: "IndexFile", *args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> _T:
         cur_wd = os.getcwd()
-        os.chdir(self.repo.working_tree_dir)
+        os.chdir(cast(PathLike, self.repo.working_tree_dir))
         try:
             return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
         finally:
 
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ def _clone_repo(
             module_abspath_dir = osp.dirname(module_abspath)
             if not osp.isdir(module_abspath_dir):
                 os.makedirs(module_abspath_dir)
-            module_checkout_path = osp.join(repo.working_tree_dir, path)
+            module_checkout_path = osp.join(repo.working_tree_dir, path)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
 
         if url.startswith("../"):
             remote_name = cast("RemoteReference", repo.active_branch.tracking_branch()).remote_name
 
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ def _get_ref_info_helper(
         tokens: Union[None, List[str], Tuple[str, str]] = None
         repodir = _git_dir(repo, ref_path)
         try:
-            with open(os.path.join(repodir, ref_path), "rt", encoding="UTF-8") as fp:
+            with open(os.path.join(repodir, ref_path), "rt", encoding="UTF-8") as fp:  # type: ignore[arg-type]
                 value = fp.read().rstrip()
             # Don't only split on spaces, but on whitespace, which allows to parse lines like:
             # 60b64ef992065e2600bfef6187a97f92398a9144                branch 'master' of git-server:/path/to/repo