diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 0311f434..d34f918a 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 byobu (5.20) unreleased; urgency=low
 
-  * UNRELEASED
+  * usr/bin/byobu-status:
+    - fix upgrades to the new width handling, where some things
+      were undefined
 
  -- Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>  Fri, 08 Jun 2012 17:25:23 -0500
 
diff --git a/usr/bin/byobu-status b/usr/bin/byobu-status
index 252a9155..54311e07 100755
--- a/usr/bin/byobu-status
+++ b/usr/bin/byobu-status
@@ -36,13 +36,17 @@ for i in "${BYOBU_PREFIX}/share/$PKG/status/status" "${BYOBU_PREFIX}/share/$PKG/
 done
 
 # Fix status printing for small terminal sizes
-w=$(tmux list-windows -F "#{session_width}")
-read w_last < $BYOBU_RUN_DIR/width || w_last=
-if [ "$w" != "$w_last" ]; then
-	tmux set -g status-left-length $((w*1/4)) >/dev/null 2>&1
-	tmux set -g status-right-length $((w*3/4)) >/dev/null 2>&1
-	printf "$w" > $BYOBU_RUN_DIR/width
-fi
+width=$(tmux list-windows -F "#{session_width}")
+w_last=0
+[ -r "$BYOBU_RUN_DIR/width" ] && read w_last < $BYOBU_RUN_DIR/width 2>/dev/null 1>&2 || w_last=0
+for w in $width; do
+	if [ "$w" != "$w_last" ]; then
+		tmux set -g status-left-length $(($w*1/4)) >/dev/null 2>&1
+		tmux set -g status-right-length $(($w*3/4)) >/dev/null 2>&1
+		printf "$w" > $BYOBU_RUN_DIR/width
+		break
+	fi
+done
 
 case "$BYOBU_BACKEND" in
 	screen)