diff --git a/IPython/utils/py3compat.py b/IPython/utils/py3compat.py
index 68a8681..57eca72 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/py3compat.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/py3compat.py
@@ -155,7 +155,10 @@ else:
     if sys.platform == 'win32':
         def execfile(fname, glob=None, loc=None):
             loc = loc if (loc is not None) else glob
-            scripttext = __builtin__.open(fname).read()
+            # The rstrip() is necessary b/c trailing whitespace in files will
+            # cause an IndentationError in Python 2.6 (this was fixed in 2.7,
+            # but we still support 2.6).  See issue 1027.
+            scripttext = __builtin__.open(fname).read().rstrip()
             # compile converts unicode filename to str assuming
             # ascii. Let's do the conversion before calling compile
             if isinstance(fname, unicode):