diff --git a/src/hydra-queue-runner/hydra-queue-runner.cc b/src/hydra-queue-runner/hydra-queue-runner.cc
index 27d5bdcf..cd873d65 100644
--- a/src/hydra-queue-runner/hydra-queue-runner.cc
+++ b/src/hydra-queue-runner/hydra-queue-runner.cc
@@ -299,9 +299,9 @@ void State::finishBuildStep(pqxx::work & txn, const RemoteResult & result,
         (result.timesBuilt, result.timesBuilt > 0)
         (result.isNonDeterministic, result.timesBuilt > 1)
         .exec();
-    assert(result.logFile.find('\'') == std::string::npos);
-    txn.exec(fmt("notify step_finished, '%d %d %s'", buildId, stepNr,
-            result.logFile.empty() ? "-" : result.logFile));
+    assert(result.logFile.find('\t') == std::string::npos);
+    txn.exec(fmt("notify step_finished, '%d\t%d\t%s'",
+            buildId, stepNr, result.logFile));
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/script/hydra-notify b/src/script/hydra-notify
index 4da648ba..81dd3c14 100755
--- a/src/script/hydra-notify
+++ b/src/script/hydra-notify
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ while (1) {
     my ($channelName, $pid, $payload) = @$notify;
     #print STDERR "got '$channelName' from $pid: $payload\n";
 
-    my @payload = split / /, $payload;
+    my @payload = split /\t/, $payload;
 
     eval {
         if ($channelName eq "build_started") {