diff --git a/test/integration/roles/test_template/files/foo-py26.txt b/test/integration/roles/test_template/files/foo-py26.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..84279bc7b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/roles/test_template/files/foo-py26.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+templated_var_loaded
+
+{
+    "bool": true,
+    "multi_part": "1Foo",
+    "number": 5,
+    "string_num": "5"
+}
diff --git a/test/integration/roles/test_template/files/foo.txt b/test/integration/roles/test_template/files/foo.txt
index 84279bc7b3..edd704da04 100644
--- a/test/integration/roles/test_template/files/foo.txt
+++ b/test/integration/roles/test_template/files/foo.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 templated_var_loaded
 
 {
-    "bool": true,
-    "multi_part": "1Foo",
-    "number": 5,
+    "bool": true, 
+    "multi_part": "1Foo", 
+    "number": 5, 
     "string_num": "5"
 }
diff --git a/test/integration/roles/test_template/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/roles/test_template/tasks/main.yml
index 2568843cf7..0574868c9c 100644
--- a/test/integration/roles/test_template/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/roles/test_template/tasks/main.yml
@@ -41,8 +41,18 @@
 
 # VERIFY CONTENTS
 
+- name: check what python version ansible is running on
+  command: python -c 'import distutils.sysconfig ; print(distutils.sysconfig.get_python_version())'
+  register: pyver
+  delegate_to: localhost
+
 - name: copy known good into place
   copy: src=foo.txt dest={{output_dir}}/foo.txt
+  when: pyver.stdout != '2.6'
+
+- name: copy known good into place
+  copy: src=foo-py2.6.txt dest={{output_dir}}/foo.txt
+  when: pyver.stdout == '2.6'
 
 - name: compare templated file to known good
   shell: diff {{output_dir}}/foo.templated {{output_dir}}/foo.txt