diff --git a/rai/utility.hpp b/rai/utility.hpp
index 38a1d899..fc76c286 100644
--- a/rai/utility.hpp
+++ b/rai/utility.hpp
@@ -74,10 +74,15 @@ bool fetch_object (T & object, std::iostream & stream_a)
 		error = object.deserialize_json (updated, tree);
 		if (!error && updated)
 		{
+			auto end (stream_a.tellp ());
 			stream_a.seekp (0);
 			try
 			{
 				boost::property_tree::write_json (stream_a, tree);
+				while (stream_a.tellp () != end)
+				{
+					stream_a << ' ';
+				}
 			}
 			catch (std::runtime_error const &)
 			{