diff --git a/endian_magic.patch b/endian_magic.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43e94d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/endian_magic.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+Index: polib-1.0.3/polib.py
+===================================================================
+--- polib-1.0.3.orig/polib.py
++++ polib-1.0.3/polib.py
+@@ -536,16 +536,11 @@ class _BaseFile(list):
+             koffsets += [l1, o1 + keystart]
+             voffsets += [l2, o2 + valuestart]
+         offsets = koffsets + voffsets
+-        # check endianness for magic number
+-        if struct.pack('@h', 1) == struct.pack('<h', 1):
+-            magic_number = MOFile.LITTLE_ENDIAN
+-        else:
+-            magic_number = MOFile.BIG_ENDIAN
+ 
+         output = struct.pack(
+             "Iiiiiii",
+             # Magic number
+-            magic_number,
++            MOFile.MAGIC,
+             # Version
+             0,
+             # number of entries
+@@ -688,8 +683,8 @@ class MOFile(_BaseFile):
+     This class inherits the :class:`~polib._BaseFile` class and, by
+     extension, the python ``list`` type.
+     """
+-    BIG_ENDIAN = 0xde120495
+-    LITTLE_ENDIAN = 0x950412de
++    MAGIC = 0x950412de
++    MAGIC_SWAPPED = 0xde120495
+ 
+     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+         """
+@@ -1432,7 +1427,8 @@ class _POFileParser(object):
+         if self.current_state in ['MC', 'MS', 'MX']:
+             self.instance.append(self.current_entry)
+             self.current_entry = POEntry()
+-        self.current_entry.flags += self.current_token[3:].split(', ')
++        self.current_entry.flags += [c.strip() for c in
++                                     self.current_token[3:].split(',')]
+         return True
+ 
+     def handle_pp(self):
+@@ -1564,9 +1560,9 @@ class _MOFileParser(object):
+         """
+         # parse magic number
+         magic_number = self._readbinary('<I', 4)
+-        if magic_number == MOFile.LITTLE_ENDIAN:
++        if magic_number == MOFile.MAGIC:
+             ii = '<II'
+-        elif magic_number == MOFile.BIG_ENDIAN:
++        elif magic_number == MOFile.MAGIC_SWAPPED:
+             ii = '>II'
+         else:
+             raise IOError('Invalid mo file, magic number is incorrect !')
diff --git a/python-polib.changes b/python-polib.changes
index c1c0247..306868b 100644
--- a/python-polib.changes
+++ b/python-polib.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Thu Sep 12 14:51:41 UTC 2013 - dvaleev@suse.com
+
+- Fixed issue #53 (bad magic number written on big endian platforms)
+  endian_magic.patch 
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Mon Feb 11 17:31:17 UTC 2013 - lazy.kent@opensuse.org
 
diff --git a/python-polib.spec b/python-polib.spec
index 09f3722..9de6201 100644
--- a/python-polib.spec
+++ b/python-polib.spec
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ Summary:        A library to manipulate gettext files
 License:        MIT
 Group:          Development/Languages/Python
 Source0:        http://bitbucket.org/izi/polib/downloads/polib-%{version}.tar.gz
+Patch0:         endian_magic.patch
 BuildRoot:      %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-build
 BuildRequires:  python-Sphinx
 BuildRequires:  python-devel
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ This package contains documentation in HTML format.
 
 %prep
 %setup -q -n polib-%{version}
+%patch0 -p1
 
 %build
 python setup.py build