diff --git a/aten/src/ATen/core/library.cpp b/aten/src/ATen/core/library.cpp
index 7960f22839c..ba608e98ad5 100644
--- a/aten/src/ATen/core/library.cpp
+++ b/aten/src/ATen/core/library.cpp
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ namespace torch {
 namespace {
   // TODO: Consider representing debug info as a struct instead so you
   // don't have to allocate strings all the time
-  std::string debugString(const std::string& file, uint32_t line) {
+  std::string debugString(const char* file, uint32_t line) {
 #ifdef STRIP_ERROR_MESSAGES
     return std::string();
 #else
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ namespace {
 #endif
   }
 
-  std::string debugString(std::string debug, const std::string& file, uint32_t line) {
+  std::string debugString(std::string debug, const char* file, uint32_t line) {
 #ifdef STRIP_ERROR_MESSAGES
     return std::string();
 #else
diff --git a/torch/csrc/utils/python_dispatch.cpp b/torch/csrc/utils/python_dispatch.cpp
index eab4d972748..11f0191095e 100644
--- a/torch/csrc/utils/python_dispatch.cpp
+++ b/torch/csrc/utils/python_dispatch.cpp
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ void initDispatchBindings(PyObject* module) {
       parseKind(kind),
       std::move(name),
       std::string(dispatch) == "" ? c10::nullopt : c10::make_optional(c10::parseDispatchKey(dispatch)),
-      file,
+      "<unknown>", // temporary workaround
       linenum);
     END_HANDLE_TH_ERRORS_PYBIND
   }, "", py::arg("kind"), py::arg("name"), py::arg("dispatch"), py::arg("file")="/dev/null", py::arg("linenum")=0)
diff --git a/torch/library.h b/torch/library.h
index 6cafa7c2958..38887740ecd 100644
--- a/torch/library.h
+++ b/torch/library.h
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ class TORCH_API Library final {
   Library& operator=(const Library&) = delete;
   Library(Library&&) = default;
   Library& operator=(Library&&) = default;
-  // TODO: add gen_python_error boolean flag
+
   // Some notes about the API design here.  We had the following constraints:
   //
   //  - We need to support multiple "types" of arguments for schema and
@@ -802,7 +802,7 @@ class TORCH_API Library final {
   Kind kind_;
   c10::optional<std::string> ns_;
   c10::optional<c10::DispatchKey> dispatch_key_;
-  std::string file_;
+  const char* file_;
   uint32_t line_;
 
   std::vector<c10::RegistrationHandleRAII> registrars_;