diff --git a/lib/galaxy/util/checkers.py b/lib/galaxy/util/checkers.py
index 85110e67e13..0e86b28643f 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/util/checkers.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/util/checkers.py
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ HTML_CHECK_LINES = 100
 def check_html( file_path, chunk=None ):
     if chunk is None:
         temp = open( file_path, "U" )
+    elif hasattr(chunk, "splitlines"):
+        temp = chunk.splitlines()
     else:
         temp = chunk
     regexp1 = re.compile( "<A\s+[^>]*HREF[^>]+>", re.I )