diff --git a/support-files/mysql.spec.sh b/support-files/mysql.spec.sh
index 0dac5013c8c..1099c8e1f29 100644
--- a/support-files/mysql.spec.sh
+++ b/support-files/mysql.spec.sh
@@ -125,7 +125,8 @@
 %endif
 %if %{distro_specific}
   %if %(test -f /etc/redhat-release && echo 1 || echo 0)
-    %define redhatver %(rpm -qf --qf '%%{version}' /etc/redhat-release | sed -e 's/^\([0-9]*\).*/\1/g')
+    %define redhatver %(rpm -qf --qf '%%{version}' /etc/redhat-release | sed -e 's/^\\([0-9]*\\).*/\\1/g')
+    %{echo:Found Red Hat version %{redhatver}}
     %if %redhatver == 4
       %define distro_description        Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
       %define distro_releasetag         rhel4
@@ -138,9 +139,11 @@
       %define distro_buildreq           gcc-c++ gperf ncurses-devel perl readline-devel time zlib-devel
       %define distro_requires           chkconfig coreutils grep procps shadow-utils
     %endif
+    %endif
   %else
   %if %(test -f /etc/SuSE-release && echo 1 || echo 0)
     %define susever %(rpm -qf --qf '%%{version}' /etc/SuSE-release)
+    %{echo:Found SuSE version %{susever}}
     %if %susever == 10
       %define distro_description        SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
       %define distro_releasetag         sles10
@@ -153,18 +156,22 @@
       %define distro_buildreq           gcc-c++ gdbm-devel gperf ncurses-devel openldap2-client procps pwdutils readline-devel zlib-devel
       %define distro_requires           aaa_base coreutils grep procps pwdutils
     %endif
+    %endif
+  %endif
   %endif
   %if %{undefined distro_description}
     %{error:Unsupported distribution}
   %endif
 %else
-  %define generic_kernel %(uname -r | cut -d\. -f1-2)
+  %define generic_kernel %(uname -r | cut -d. -f1-2)
   %define distro_description    Generic Linux %{generic_kernel}
   %define distro_releasetag     linux%{generic_kernel}
   %define distro_buildreq       gcc-c++ gperf ncurses-devel perl readline-devel time zlib-devel
   %define distro_requires       coreutils grep procps /sbin/chkconfig /usr/sbin/useradd /usr/sbin/groupadd
 %endif
 
+%{echo:Building for %{distro_description}
+
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Support optional "tcmalloc" library (experimental)
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------