diff --git a/abuild.in b/abuild.in
index 462808e..95bbd26 100755
--- a/abuild.in
+++ b/abuild.in
@@ -969,8 +969,6 @@ git_last_commit_epoch() {
 get_maintainer() {
 	if [ -z "$maintainer" ]; then
 		maintainer=$(awk -F': ' '/# *Maintainer/ {print $2}' "$APKBUILD")
-		# remove surrounding whitespace
-		maintainer=$(echo "$maintainer" | xargs)
 	fi
 }
 
@@ -981,8 +979,10 @@ check_maintainer() {
 	else
 		# try to check for a valid rfc822 address
 		case "$maintainer" in
-			*[A-Za-z0-9]*\ \<*@*.*\>) ;;
-			*) return 1 ;;
+			" "*|*" ") error "'$maintainer' has leading or trailing space"; return 1 ;;
+			\"*|*\") error "'$maintainer' has leading or trailing quote"; return 1 ;;
+			*\ \<*@*.*\>) ;;
+			*) error "'$maintainer' is not a valid rfc822 address"; return 1 ;;
 		esac
 	fi
 }
diff --git a/tests/abuild_test b/tests/abuild_test
index b5f22ec..7f8b3c1 100755
--- a/tests/abuild_test
+++ b/tests/abuild_test
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ init_tests \
 	abuild_package_size_nonzero \
 	abuild_amove \
 	abuild_doc \
-	abuild_dev
+	abuild_dev \
+	abuild_check_maintainer
 
 export ABUILD_SHAREDIR=$(atf_get_srcdir)/..
 export ABUILD_CONF=/dev/null
@@ -673,3 +674,24 @@ abuild_dev_body() {
 	done
 	test -L pkg/foo-dev/usr/lib/libfoo.so || atf_fail "libfoo.so failed"
 }
+
+abuild_check_maintainer_body() {
+	mkdir -p foo && cd foo
+	for m in "Test User 123 <123example.com>" \
+			"foo" \
+			"user@example.com" \
+			" Leading Space <n@example.com>" \
+			"Trailing Space <n@example.com> " \
+			"Foo<u@example.com>" \
+			'"Quotes <u@example.com>"'; do
+		printf "# Maintainer: %s\n%s\n" "$m" "pkgname=foo" > APKBUILD
+		atf_check -s not-exit:0 \
+			-e match:"ERROR:" \
+			abuild check_maintainer
+	done
+
+	for m in "Test User <123@example.com>" "Foo O'Brian <n@example.com>" "Łukasz Something <s@example.com>"; do
+		printf "# Maintainer: %s\n%s\n" "$m" "pkgname=foo" > APKBUILD
+		atf_check abuild check_maintainer
+	done
+}