diff --git a/systemvm/patches/debian/config/opt/cloud/bin/get_template_version.sh b/systemvm/patches/debian/config/opt/cloud/bin/get_template_version.sh
index 996e9dd5ce5c..53bdde30aa7c 100755
--- a/systemvm/patches/debian/config/opt/cloud/bin/get_template_version.sh
+++ b/systemvm/patches/debian/config/opt/cloud/bin/get_template_version.sh
@@ -42,5 +42,6 @@ then
     exit
 fi
 
-echo -n `cat /etc/cloudstack-release`'&'
-cat /var/cache/cloud/cloud-scripts-signature
+release=`cat /etc/cloudstack-release`
+sig=`cat /var/cache/cloud/cloud-scripts-signature`
+echo  "${release}&${sig}"