diff --git a/Alien/Package/Deb.pm b/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
index 38fd540..0f654e4 100644
--- a/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
+++ b/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
@@ -317,6 +317,7 @@ sub prep {
 		my $line=<$changelog>;
 		if ($line=~/^[^ ]+\s+\(([^)]+)\)\s/) {
 			my $version=$1;
+			$version=~s/\s+//; # ensure no whitespace
 			if ($version=~/(.*)-(.*)/) {
 				$version=$1;
 				$this->release($2);
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index aa8d3ab..6279abc 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+alien (8.77) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
+
+  * Don't allow whitespace in package version when parsing debian/changelog.
+
+ -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:06:53 -0400
+
 alien (8.76) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * Avoid using hostname -f for portability to unix systems,