diff --git a/pisi/xmlext.py b/pisi/xmlext.py
index c371d3ae..48070298 100644
--- a/pisi/xmlext.py
+++ b/pisi/xmlext.py
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ def getNodeText(node, tagpath = ""):
     except AttributeError: # no node by that name
         return None
     if child.nodeType == child.TEXT_NODE:
-        return child.data
+        # in any case, strip whitespaces...
+        return child.data.strip()
     else:
         raise XmlError("getNodeText: Expected text node, got something else!")
 
diff --git a/pisi/xmlfile.py b/pisi/xmlfile.py
index 8f159ca4..1945efc2 100644
--- a/pisi/xmlfile.py
+++ b/pisi/xmlfile.py
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ class XmlFile(object):
 
     def writexml(self, fileName):
         f = codecs.open(fileName,'w', "utf-8")
-        self.dom.writexml(f)
+        f.write(self.dom.toprettyxml())
+        f.close()
 
     def verifyRootTag(self):
         if self.dom.documentElement.tagName != self.rootTag: