diff --git a/bcfg2/pygen.py b/bcfg2/pygen.py
index 3f5a534c..d2c19b48 100755
--- a/bcfg2/pygen.py
+++ b/bcfg2/pygen.py
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class Environment(dict):
 
 __re_special_line = re.compile(r"^([ \t]*)(@|%)(.*)$", re.MULTILINE)
 __re_affectation = re.compile(r"([a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z_0-9]*)[ \t]*=")
-__re_space_sep = re.compile(r"([^ \t]*)([ \t].*)")
+__re_space_sep = re.compile(r"([^ \t]*)[ \t]+=?(.*)")
 
 def compileSource(source, filename=""):
     '''Compile un script'''