diff --git a/Lib/cgitb.py b/Lib/cgitb.py
index 7b52c8e..6da40e8 100644
--- a/Lib/cgitb.py
+++ b/Lib/cgitb.py
@@ -293,14 +293,19 @@
         if self.logdir is not None:
             suffix = ['.txt', '.html'][self.format=="html"]
             (fd, path) = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix=suffix, dir=self.logdir)
+
             try:
                 file = os.fdopen(fd, 'w')
                 file.write(doc)
                 file.close()
-                msg = '<p> %s contains the description of this error.' % path
+                msg = '%s contains the description of this error.' % path
             except:
-                msg = '<p> Tried to save traceback to %s, but failed.' % path
-            self.file.write(msg + '\n')
+                msg = 'Tried to save traceback to %s, but failed.' % path
+
+            if self.format == 'html':
+                self.file.write('<p>%s</p>\n' % msg)
+            else:
+                self.file.write(msg + '\n')
         try:
             self.file.flush()
         except: pass
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index 182c6a6..2b97f51 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -699,6 +699,7 @@
 Gordon McMillan
 Caolan McNamara
 Andrew McNamara
+Jeff McNeil
 Craig McPheeters
 Lambert Meertens
 Bill van Melle
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index a7af2cc..5010f70 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -132,6 +132,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #12890: cgitb no longer prints spurious <p> tags in text
+  mode when the logdir option is specified.
+
 - Issue #16250: Fix URLError invocation with proper args.
 
 - Issue #16305: Fix a segmentation fault occurring when interrupting