diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/packagedata.py b/meta/lib/oe/packagedata.py
index 02c81e5a522..212f048bc60 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/packagedata.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/packagedata.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ def read_pkgdatafile(fn):
         import re
         with open(fn, 'r') as f:
             lines = f.readlines()
-        r = re.compile("(^.+?):\s+(.*)")
+        r = re.compile(r"(^.+?):\s+(.*)")
         for l in lines:
             m = r.match(l)
             if m: