diff --git a/roles/service-bird-lg/files/simplify-parsing.patch b/roles/service-bird-lg/files/simplify-parsing.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf726a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/service-bird-lg/files/simplify-parsing.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+From 0e45d90b7044225125ef92568deb4305f815224f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Baptiste Jonglez <baptiste--git@jonglez.org>
+Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:47:27 +0100
+Subject: [PATCH] Simplify parsing of 'show protocols' to avoid future
+ breakages
+
+The current parsing method (ugly regexp) is hard to understand and prone
+to breakage:
+
+- Bird 1.4 changed the date format, which broke the parser ()
+- Bird 2.0 changed the format of the "Table" field, which again broke the parser (#36)
+
+The new method is much simpler, does not involve any regexp, and should
+thus resist small syntax changes in Bird's output.
+
+Important limitation: parsing will be messed up if the date contains a
+space character.  There is no space in the default date format of Bird
+(checked with Bird 1.3 to Bird 2.0), but since the date format is
+configurable in Bird, it may happen anyway.  In particular, setting
+"timeformat protocol iso long" in Bird will break bird-lg's parser.
+
+Fixes #36
+---
+ lg.py | 15 ++++++++++-----
+ 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/lg.py b/lg.py
+index b4bdd8b..6a9f4e7 100644
+--- a/lg.py
++++ b/lg.py
+@@ -223,8 +223,6 @@ def whois():
+ 
+ 
+ SUMMARY_UNWANTED_PROTOS = ["Kernel", "Static", "Device"]
+-SUMMARY_RE_MATCH = r"(?P<name>[\w_]+)\s+(?P<proto>\w+)\s+(?P<table>\w+)\s+(?P<state>\w+)\s+(?P<since>((|\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d\s)|(\d\d:)\d\d:\d\d|\w\w\w\d\d))($|\s+(?P<info>.*))"
+-
+ 
+ @app.route("/summary/<hosts>")
+ @app.route("/summary/<hosts>/<proto>")
+@@ -251,9 +249,16 @@ def summary(hosts, proto="ipv4"):
+         for line in res[1:]:
+             line = line.strip()
+             if line and (line.split() + [""])[1] not in SUMMARY_UNWANTED_PROTOS:
+-                m = re.match(SUMMARY_RE_MATCH, line)
+-                if m:
+-                    data.append(m.groupdict())
++                split = line.split()
++                if len(split) >= 5:
++                    props = dict()
++                    props["name"] = split[0]
++                    props["proto"] = split[1]
++                    props["table"] = split[2]
++                    props["state"] = split[3]
++                    props["since"] = split[4]
++                    props["info"] = ' '.join(split[5:]) if len(split) > 5 else ""
++                    data.append(props)
+                 else:
+                     app.logger.warning("couldn't parse: %s", line)
+ 
diff --git a/roles/service-bird-lg/tasks/lg-webservice.yml b/roles/service-bird-lg/tasks/lg-webservice.yml
index c86e11a..58dba94 100644
--- a/roles/service-bird-lg/tasks/lg-webservice.yml
+++ b/roles/service-bird-lg/tasks/lg-webservice.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
   notify:
     - restart bird-lg-webservice
 
+- name: apply patch simplify-parsing
+  patch:
+    src: simplify-parsing.patch
+    basedir: "{{ lg_path }}"
+    strip: 1
+
 - name: write vhost lookingglass.conf
   template:
     src: lookingglass_vhost.conf.j2