diff --git a/pkgs/tools/virtualization/cloud-init/0001-add-nixos-support.patch b/pkgs/tools/virtualization/cloud-init/0001-add-nixos-support.patch
index 57fcef6fe661..9389a045e38c 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/virtualization/cloud-init/0001-add-nixos-support.patch
+++ b/pkgs/tools/virtualization/cloud-init/0001-add-nixos-support.patch
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ index 00000000..67c049b8
 +        return (self.hostname_conf_fn, sys_hostname)
 +
 +    def _read_hostname_conf(self, filename):
-+        conf = HostnameConf(util.load_file(filename))
++        conf = HostnameConf(util.load_text_file(filename))
 +        conf.parse()
 +        return conf
 +