diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 20aeff1e..ce5a9ec9 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ byobu (5.36) unreleased; urgency=low
 
   * usr/share/doc/byobu/help.tmux.txt:
     - fix typos
+  * usr/lib/byobu/distro:
+    - fix distro printing for RHEL
 
  -- Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>  Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:24:38 -0500
 
diff --git a/usr/lib/byobu/distro b/usr/lib/byobu/distro
index 1b31d22f..92e51ecb 100755
--- a/usr/lib/byobu/distro
+++ b/usr/lib/byobu/distro
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ __distro() {
 	elif [ -r "/etc/issue" ]; then
 		# lsb_release is *really* slow;  try to use /etc/issue first
 		local issue
-		read issue < /etc/issue
+		IFS="" read issue < /etc/issue
 		case "$issue" in
 			Ubuntu*)
 				DISTRO="Ubuntu";
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ __distro() {
 			Debian*)
 				DISTRO="Debian"
 			;;
+			Red Hat Enterprise*)
+				DISTRO="RHEL"
+			;;
 			*)
 				# assume first field is what we want
 				DISTRO="${issue%% *}";