Error with tex4ht under TL 2016 when using lua. String contains an invalid utf-8 sequence

Question

I just installed TL 2016 on new Linux mint OS.

>which latex
/usr/local/texlive/2016/bin/x86_64-linux/latex
>which make4ht
/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/scripts/make4ht/make4ht

The first file I tried to compile gives error. I'd like to ask what does a user need to change or add to make tex4ht work under TL 2016. I use lua as option in all my builds using make4ht. Here is a MWE

\documentclass[11pt]{article}%
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\begin{document}
test
\end{document} 

Error is

make4ht --lua foo.tex 
Output dir:     
Compiler:   dvilualatex
Latex options:   -jobname=foo 
tex4ht.sty :    xhtml,
tex4ht  
build_file  foo.mk4
Cannot open config file foo.mk4
setting param correct_exit
setting param correct_exit
setting param correct_exit
setting param ext
Adding:     ext dvi
LaTeX call: dvilualatex  -jobname=foo  '\makeatletter\def\HCode{\futurelet\HCode\HChar}\def\HChar{\ifx"\HCode\def\HCode"##1"{\Link##1}\expandafter\HCode\else\expandafter\Link\fi}\def\Link#1.a.b.c.{\g@addto@macro\@documentclasshook{\RequirePackage[#1,html]{tex4ht}}\let\HCode\documentstyle\def\documentstyle{\let\documentstyle\HCode\expandafter\def\csname tex4ht\endcsname{#1,html}\def\HCode####1{\documentstyle[tex4ht,}\@ifnextchar[{\HCode}{\documentstyle[tex4ht]}}}\makeatother\HCode xhtml,.a.b.c.\input foo'
This is LuaTeX, Version 0.95.0 (TeX Live 2016) 
 restricted system commands enabled.
LaTeX2e <2016/03/31>
Babel <3.9r> and hyphenation patterns for 1 language(s) loaded.
(./foo.tex (/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 2014/09/29 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size11.clo))
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/tex4ht.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/usepackage.4ht)
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/inputenc.sty

Package inputenc Warning: inputenc package ignored with utf8 based engines.

) (/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/tex4ht.4ht
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 TeX4ht info is available in the log file 
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
) (/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/tex4ht.sty
--- needs --- tex4ht foo ---
(./foo.tmp) (./foo.xref)
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/html4.4ht)
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/html4-math.4ht)
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/html4.4ht)
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/html4-math.4ht)
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/latex.4ht
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/html4.4ht
! String contains an invalid utf-8 sequence.
l.1267           
               \Configure{tableofcontents}
? 

It works if remove --lua option. But I need to use this option and it works in TL 2015. The above error also shows up if I remove \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

File compiles OK with lualatex 2016

lualatex foo.tex
This is LuaTeX, Version 0.95.0 (TeX Live 2016) 
 restricted system commands enabled.
(./foo.tex
LaTeX2e <2016/03/31>
Babel <3.9r> and hyphenation patterns for 1 language(s) loaded.
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 2014/09/29 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size11.clo)) (./foo.aux)
[1{/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}]
(./foo.aux))
 346 words of node memory still in use:
   2 hlist, 1 vlist, 1 rule, 7 glue, 39 glue_spec, 1 write nodes
   avail lists: 1:1,2:12,3:2,4:1,5:10,6:6,7:22,8:1,9:6
</usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr10.pfb>
Output written on foo.pdf (1 page, 10400 bytes).
Transcript written on foo.log.

File also compiled OK with make4ht --lua under TL 2015:

make4ht --lua foo.tex
Output dir:     
Compiler:   dvilualatex
Latex options:   -jobname=foo 
tex4ht.sty :    xhtml,
tex4ht  
build_file  foo.mk4
Cannot open config file foo.mk4
setting param correct_exit
setting param correct_exit
setting param correct_exit
setting param ext
Adding:     ext dvi
LaTeX call: dvilualatex  -jobname=foo  '\makeatletter\def\HCode{\futurelet\HCode\HChar}\def\HChar{\ifx"\HCode\def\HCode"##1"{\Link##1}\expandafter\HCode\else\expandafter\Link\fi}\def\Link#1.a.b.c.{\g@addto@macro\@documentclasshook{\RequirePackage[#1,html]{tex4ht}}\let\HCode\documentstyle\def\documentstyle{\let\documentstyle\HCode\expandafter\def\csname tex4ht\endcsname{#1,html}\def\HCode####1{\documentstyle[tex4ht,}\@ifnextchar[{\HCode}{\documentstyle[tex4ht]}}}\makeatother\HCode xhtml,.a.b.c.\input foo'
This is LuaTeX, Version beta-0.80.0.1 (TeX Live 2015) (rev 5863) 
 restricted \write18 enabled.
LaTeX2e <2015/10/01> patch level 2
......
parse_lg process file: foo.css
outdir: 
parse_lg process file: foo.tmp
tmp file

Answer 1

The file /usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/generic/tex4ht/html4.4ht contains a spurious character <A0> in line 1267

1265 \let\sv:etoc\e:tableofcontents
1266 %
1267           <A0>\Configure{tableofcontents}
1268        {\IgnorePar\EndP\HCode{<div class="\sec:typ TOCS">}\IgnorePar}

The output was obtained with

LESSCHARSET=ascii less -N $(kpsewhich html4.4ht)

Make a local copy, edit the file placing the cursor at the backslash in \Configure and remove the preceding character.

If the edited copy is in the working directory, compilation succeeds.