diff --git a/Logs/Transfer.hs b/Logs/Transfer.hs
index 0135f32dd6..76412cf391 100644
--- a/Logs/Transfer.hs
+++ b/Logs/Transfer.hs
@@ -293,7 +293,8 @@ readTransferInfo mpid s = TransferInfo
 	<*> pure (if null filename then Nothing else Just filename)
 	<*> pure False
   where
-	(firstline, filename) = separate (== '\n') s
+	(firstline, rest) = separate (== '\n') s
+	(filename, _) = separate (== '\n') rest
 	bits = split " " firstline
 	numbits = length bits
 	time = if numbits > 0
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index cab9111202..ab3f6f14b8 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ git-annex (3.20121212) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
     direct mode.
   * kqueue: Fix bug that made broken symlinks not be noticed.
   * vicfg: Quote filename. Closes: #696193
+  * Bugfix: Fixed bug parsing transfer info files, where the newline after
+    the filename was included in it. This was generally benign, but in
+    the assistant, it caused unexpected dropping of preferred content.
 
  -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:06:43 -0400