diff --git a/SunGridEngine/SgeConfig.py b/SunGridEngine/SgeConfig.py
index a37a6d8..fcf350b 100755
--- a/SunGridEngine/SgeConfig.py
+++ b/SunGridEngine/SgeConfig.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ class SgeConfig:
 	def getAttr( self, strAttrName ):
 		return self.m_attrs[ strAttrName ]
 	def setAttr( self, strAttrName, strAttrValue ):
+		assert isinstance(strAttrName, str)
+		assert isinstance(strAttrValue, str)
 		self.m_attrs[ strAttrName ] = strAttrValue
 	def loadFromSgeFormat1String( self, strSgeConfigString ):
 		"""
@@ -43,9 +45,10 @@ class SgeConfig:
 		# put multiline attributes on one line
 		strSgeConfigString = re.sub(r"\\\n", "", strSgeConfigString)
 		for strAttrDef in strSgeConfigString.split("\n"):
-			#print strAttrDef
+			# print("strAttrDef=%s" % strAttrDef)
 			if len(strAttrDef) != 0:
 				matchObj = re.match( "^(?P<attrName>[^\s]+)[ ]+(?P<attrValue>[^\s].*)$", strAttrDef )
+				assert matchObj is not None
 				#print( '%s = %s\n' % (matchObj.group("attrName"), matchObj.group("attrValue") ) )
 				self.m_attrs[ matchObj.group("attrName") ] = matchObj.group("attrValue")
 				
@@ -76,8 +79,50 @@ class SgeConfig:
 		strResult = ""
 		for (k,v) in self.m_attrs.items():
 			#print "%s %s" % (k,v)
-			strResult += "%s %s\n" % (k,v) 
-		#print strSgeConfigString
+			# if the attribute's value is a list of comma separated strings, make sure there are no spaces after the commas, otherwise the value is not properly interpreted when read back into sge
+			# for example if the user sets the value of administrator_mail (using qconf -mconf global) to "alice@univ-rennes1.fr,    bob@univ-rennes1.fr", then the next call to qconf -sconf global will show a wrong value for administrator_mail, as shown below:
+			# pag_cmd                      none
+			# administrator_mail           alice@univ-rennes1.fr,
+			# token_extend_time            none
+
+			# it's even worse, as it messes with the whole config, putting unwanted attributes in the reporting_params attribute. In short, inputting commas followed by spaces seems to confuse sge....
+
+			# the tests below show that administrator_mail can only take a value, which can be a separator separated list, in which a separator is either :
+			# - separator_form_a: a comma character (no spaces after)
+			# - separator_form_b: a comma character, followed by any number of spaces, then a backslash, then \n
+
+			# because we remove carriage returns in our values, the only storage option is separator_form_a
+
+			# administrator_mail           alice@univ-rennes1.fr
+			# -> ok
+
+			# administrator_mail           alice@univ-rennes1.fr,bob@univ-rennes1.fr
+			# -> ok
+
+			# administrator_mail           alice@univ-rennes1.fr, bob@univ-rennes1.fr
+			# -> messes up
+
+			# administrator_mail           alice@univ-rennes1.fr, \
+			# bob@univ-rennes1.fr
+			# -> ok
+
+			# administrator_mail           alice@univ-rennes1.fr,bob@univ-rennes1.fr, \
+			# bob2@univ-rennes1.fr
+			# -> ok
+
+			# administrator_mail           alice@univ-rennes1.fr,bob@univ-rennes1.fr,  \
+			# bob2@univ-rennes1.fr
+			# -> ok
+
+			# administrator_mail           alice@univ-rennes1.fr,bob@univ-rennes1.fr \
+			# bob2@univ-rennes1.fr
+			# -> error
+			# 	root@physix-master:~# qconf -Mconf /tmp/global
+			# 	only a single value is allowed for configuration attribute "administrator_mail"
+
+			cleaned_value = re.sub(',\s*', ',', v)
+			strResult += "%s %s\n" % (k, cleaned_value)
+		# print("strResult=%s" % strResult)
 		return strResult
 	def asFormat2String( self ):
 		strResult = ""