--- a/mercurial/context.py	Sat Mar 11 20:57:04 2017 -0500
+++ b/mercurial/context.py	Sat Mar 11 20:57:40 2017 -0500
@@ -65,6 +65,12 @@
         return o
 
     def __str__(self):
+        r = short(self.node())
+        if pycompat.ispy3:
+            return r.decode('ascii')
+        return r
+
+    def __bytes__(self):
         return short(self.node())
 
     def __int__(self):