diff --git a/docs/CHANGES.txt b/docs/CHANGES.txt
index 74d66a8d3..f0c8f9e21 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/docs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ bill@newbreedsoftware.com
 http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/
 
 
+2004.November.23 (0.9.15)
+  * simplify strip_trailing_whitespace, now O(n)
+    Albert Cahalan <albert@users.sf.net>
+
 2004.November.22 (0.9.15)
   * Enable more compuler warnings, and update code to prevent them.
     Albert Cahalan <albert@users.sf.net>
diff --git a/src/tuxpaint.c b/src/tuxpaint.c
index 53fb9c116..d5656e8e5 100644
--- a/src/tuxpaint.c
+++ b/src/tuxpaint.c
@@ -8249,11 +8249,11 @@ static Mix_Chunk * loadsound(const char * const fname)
 
 static void strip_trailing_whitespace( char *buf )
 {
-  while (buf[strlen(buf) - 1] == ' ' ||
-         buf[strlen(buf) - 1] == '\r' ||
-         buf[strlen(buf) - 1] == '\n')
+  unsigned i = strlen(buf);
+  while(i--)
     {
-      buf[strlen(buf) - 1] = '\0';
+      if(!isspace(buf[i])) break;
+      buf[i] = '\0';
     }
 }