--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py	Fri Dec 04 11:30:45 2009 +0000
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py	Sun Dec 06 09:26:45 2009 +0000
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import sys
 import unittest
 import warnings
+import textwrap
 
 from test.test_support import TESTFN
 
@@ -283,6 +284,21 @@
                 os.environ[key] = value
             os.remove(user_filename)
 
+    def test_long_description(self):
+        long_desc = textwrap.dedent("""\
+        example::
+              We start here
+            and continue here
+          and end here.""")
+        attrs = {"name": "package",
+                 "version": "1.0",
+                 "long_description": long_desc}
+
+        dist = distutils.dist.Distribution(attrs)
+        meta = self.format_metadata(dist)
+        meta = meta.replace('\n' + 8 * ' ', '\n')
+        self.assertTrue(long_desc in meta)
+
 def test_suite():
     suite = unittest.TestSuite()
     suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(DistributionTestCase))

--- a/Lib/distutils/util.py	Fri Dec 04 11:30:45 2009 +0000
+++ b/Lib/distutils/util.py	Sun Dec 06 09:26:45 2009 +0000
@@ -559,6 +559,5 @@
     RFC-822 header, by ensuring there are 8 spaces space after each newline.
     """
     lines = string.split(header, '\n')
-    lines = map(string.strip, lines)
     header = string.join(lines, '\n' + 8*' ')
     return header

--- a/Misc/NEWS	Fri Dec 04 11:30:45 2009 +0000
+++ b/Misc/NEWS	Sun Dec 06 09:26:45 2009 +0000
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #1923: Fixed the removal of meaningful spaces when PKG-INFO is 
+  generated in Distutils. Patch by Stephen Emslie.
+
 - Issue #4120: Drop reference to CRT from manifest when building extensions with
   msvc9compiler.