diff --git a/packaging/rhn_register b/packaging/rhn_register
index 9a4fbcb3b01..ba6ddead39c 100644
--- a/packaging/rhn_register
+++ b/packaging/rhn_register
@@ -172,6 +172,8 @@ class Rhn(RegistrationBase):
         # configuration.  Yeah, I know this should be subclassed ... but, oh
         # well
         def get_option_default(self, key, default=''):
+            # ignore pep8 W601 errors for this line
+            # setting this to use 'in' does not work in the rhn library
             if self.has_key(key):
                 return self[key]
             else: