diff --git a/build/tools/roomservice.py b/build/tools/roomservice.py
index bc860cae..835d792d 100755
--- a/build/tools/roomservice.py
+++ b/build/tools/roomservice.py
@@ -87,6 +87,22 @@ def exists_in_tree(lm, path):
             return True
     return False
 
+# in-place prettyprint formatter
+def indent(elem, level=0):
+    i = "\n" + level*"  "
+    if len(elem):
+        if not elem.text or not elem.text.strip():
+            elem.text = i + "  "
+        if not elem.tail or not elem.tail.strip():
+            elem.tail = i
+        for elem in elem:
+            indent(elem, level+1)
+        if not elem.tail or not elem.tail.strip():
+            elem.tail = i
+    else:
+        if level and (not elem.tail or not elem.tail.strip()):
+            elem.tail = i
+
 def get_manifest_path():
     '''Find the current manifest path
     In old versions of repo this is at .repo/manifest.xml
@@ -191,7 +207,7 @@ def add_to_manifest(repositories):
         print("Adding dependency: %s -> %s" % (project.attrib["name"], project.attrib["path"]))
         lm.append(project)
 
-    ElementTree.indent(lm)
+    indent(lm, 0)
     raw_xml = ElementTree.tostring(lm).decode()
     raw_xml = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n' + raw_xml