diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py b/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py
index 6b8ab63ddcf..259c7f340e5 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py
@@ -819,7 +819,7 @@ class EditorWindow(object):
 
     def close(self):
         reply = self.maybesave()
-        if reply != "cancel":
+        if str(reply) != "cancel":
             self._close()
         return reply
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 87f16292903..d24dd4dfc13 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -248,6 +248,8 @@ Tools/Demos
 
 - Patch #1552024: add decorator support to unparse.py demo script.
 
+- idle: Honor the "Cancel" action in the save dialog (Debian bug #299092).
+
 
 Tests
 -----