diff --git a/deb/publish.go b/deb/publish.go
index 81f73074..8b98cc45 100644
--- a/deb/publish.go
+++ b/deb/publish.go
@@ -666,9 +666,9 @@ func (p *PublishedRepo) Publish(packagePool aptly.PackagePool, publishedStorageP
 	release["Date"] = time.Now().UTC().Format("Mon, 2 Jan 2006 15:04:05 MST")
 	release["Architectures"] = strings.Join(utils.StrSlicesSubstract(p.Architectures, []string{"source"}), " ")
 	release["Description"] = " Generated by aptly\n"
-	release["MD5Sum"] = "\n"
-	release["SHA1"] = "\n"
-	release["SHA256"] = "\n"
+	release["MD5Sum"] = ""
+	release["SHA1"] = ""
+	release["SHA256"] = ""
 
 	release["Components"] = strings.Join(p.Components(), " ")