diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 28f34bd25..fc723b3e7 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ Issues of note:
 	  use English. Under autoconf the configure script will do this
 	  automatically if it can't find libintl on the system.
 
-	- Python version 2.6 or later is needed to use the git-p4
+	- Python version 2.5 or later is needed to use the git-p4
 	  interface to Perforce.
 
  - Some platform specific issues are dealt with Makefile rules,
diff --git a/git-p4.py b/git-p4.py
index 551aec941..a041b4981 100755
--- a/git-p4.py
+++ b/git-p4.py
@@ -742,7 +742,8 @@ def wildcard_encode(path):
     return path
 
 def wildcard_present(path):
-    return path.translate(None, "*#@%") != path
+    m = re.search("[*#@%]", path)
+    return m is not None
 
 class Command:
     def __init__(self):