diff --git a/hgext/mq.py b/hgext/mq.py
--- a/hgext/mq.py
+++ b/hgext/mq.py
@@ -148,7 +148,11 @@
 class statusentry(object):
     def __init__(self, node, name):
         self.node, self.name = node, name
+
     def __repr__(self):
+        return pycompat.sysstr('%s:%s' % (hex(self.node), self.name))
+
+    def __bytes__(self):
         return hex(self.node) + ':' + self.name
 
 # The order of the headers in 'hg export' HG patches: