diff --git a/wiki/mail.py b/wiki/mail.py
index a6472418..77489bce 100644
--- a/wiki/mail.py
+++ b/wiki/mail.py
@@ -76,6 +76,13 @@ def sendmail(request, to, subject, text, **kw):
     charset.body_encoding = QP
     msg.set_charset(charset)
     
+    #### HACK BACKPORT
+    # work around a bug in python 2.4.3 and above:
+    msg.set_payload('=')
+    if msg.as_string().endswith('='):
+        text = charset.body_encode(text)
+    #### FIN DU HACK
+                            
     msg.set_payload(text)
     
     # Create message headers