diff --git a/scripts/supybot-botchk b/scripts/supybot-botchk
index 9020f7273..ab5366c7a 100644
--- a/scripts/supybot-botchk
+++ b/scripts/supybot-botchk
@@ -127,12 +127,12 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
             filename = os.path.join(home, filename)
             if os.path.exists(filename):
                 debug('Found %s, sourcing.' % filename)
-                inst.communicate('source %s' % filename + os.linesep)
-        cmdline = "%s --daemon %s" % (options.supybot, options.conffile)
+                inst.stdin.write('source %s' % filename + os.linesep)
+        cmdline = '%s --daemon %s' % (options.supybot, options.conffile)
         debug('Sending cmdline to sh process.')
-        (stdout, _) = inst.communicate(cmdline + os.linesep)
+        inst.stdin.write(cmdline + os.linesep)
         inst.stdin.close()
-        debug('Received from sh process: %r' % stdout)
+        debug('Received from sh process: %r' % inst.stdout.read())
         ret = inst.wait()
         debug('Bot started, command line %r returned %s.' % (cmdline, ret))
         sys.exit(ret)