diff --git a/files/profile.c b/files/profile.c
index 7644413..99d04f4 100644
--- a/files/profile.c
+++ b/files/profile.c
@@ -790,6 +790,10 @@
         if (!key) return FALSE;
         if (key->value)
         {
+	    /* strip the leading spaces. We can safely strip \n\r and 
+	     * friends too, they should not happen here anyway. */
+	    while (PROFILE_isspace(*value)) value++;
+
             if (!strcmp( key->value, value ))
             {
                 TRACE("  no change needed\n" );