diff --git a/tools/gate/whitespace-linter.sh b/tools/gate/whitespace-linter.sh
index e96708c3..55f062d3 100755
--- a/tools/gate/whitespace-linter.sh
+++ b/tools/gate/whitespace-linter.sh
@@ -1,16 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-set -xe
-RES=$(find . \
-  -not -path "*/\.*" \
-  -not -path "*/doc/build/*" \
-  -not -path "*/doc/source/images/*" \
-  -not -path "*/htmlcov/*" \
-  -not -name "*.tgz" \
-  -not -name "*.pyc" \
-  -not -name "*.html" \
-  -type f -exec egrep -l " +$" {} \;)
+set -x
+
+RES=$(git grep -E -l " +$")
 
 if [[ -n $RES ]]; then
-  exit 1;
+  exit 1
 fi