diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 18a50fc6..d12cfbdd 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ linkchecker (1.2.4) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * fixed parsing of /etc/resolv.conf with empty lines
   * french translation from Jerome Couderc <j.couderc@ifrance.com>
-  * fix for HTTP HEAD requests from bad/dumb servers
+    and Michael Gensheimer <michael@gensheimer.net>
+  * fix for HTTP HEAD requests from bad/dumb/old servers
   * CGI script fixes
   * LinkChecker Online HTML pages added
   * news: link support for links which specify a NNTP server
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 42d29329..3bda9076 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ build-stamp:
 	dh_testdir
 
 	# Add here commands to compile the package.
+	rm -rf debian/tmp
 	python setup.py build
 
 	touch build-stamp
diff --git a/linkcheck/Config.py.tmpl b/linkcheck/Config.py.tmpl
index 6090cd08..be489304 100644
--- a/linkcheck/Config.py.tmpl
+++ b/linkcheck/Config.py.tmpl
@@ -27,15 +27,6 @@ from types import StringType
 import Logging
 from linkcheck import _
 
-def dictjoin(d1, d2):
-    d = {}
-    for key in d1.keys():
-        d[key] = d1[key]
-    for key in d2.keys():
-        d[key] = d2[key]
-    return d
-
-
 Version = "$version"
 AppName = "$appname"
 App = AppName+" "+Version
@@ -255,7 +246,10 @@ class Configuration(UserDict.UserDict):
         self.robotsTxtCache[key] = val
 
     def newLogger(self, name, dict={}):
-        return apply(Loggers[name], (), dictjoin(self.data[name],dict))
+        namespace = {}
+	namespace.update(self.data[name])
+	namespace.update(dict)
+        return apply(Loggers[name], (), namespace)
 
     def incrementLinknumber_NoThreads(self):
         self.data['linknumber'] = self.data['linknumber'] + 1