diff --git a/daemon/file.ml b/daemon/file.ml
index 312a99a39..5d2ee63c0 100644
--- a/daemon/file.ml
+++ b/daemon/file.ml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ let file path =
     | S_SOCK -> "socket"
     | S_REG ->
        (* Regular file, so now run [file] on it. *)
-       let out = command "file" ["-zb"; Sysroot.sysroot_path path] in
+       let out = command "file" ["-zSb"; Sysroot.sysroot_path path] in
 
        (*  We need to remove the trailing \n from output of file(1).
         *
@@ -54,6 +54,6 @@ let file path =
        String.trimr out
   )
   else (* it's a device *) (
-    let out = command "file" ["-zbsL"; path] in
+    let out = command "file" ["-zSbsL"; path] in
     String.trimr out
   )
diff --git a/daemon/filearch.ml b/daemon/filearch.ml
index 4d7e912c0..7de365ee5 100644
--- a/daemon/filearch.ml
+++ b/daemon/filearch.ml
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ and cpio_arch magic orig_path path =
         | bin :: bins ->
            let bin_path = tmpdir // bin in
            if is_regular_file bin_path then (
-             let out = command "file" ["-zb"; bin_path] in
+             let out = command "file" ["-zSb"; bin_path] in
              file_architecture_of_magic out orig_path bin_path
            )
            else
diff --git a/generator/actions_core.ml b/generator/actions_core.ml
index c9f1a54d6..798043de4 100644
--- a/generator/actions_core.ml
+++ b/generator/actions_core.ml
@@ -2122,9 +2122,8 @@ the type or contents of the file.
 This call will also transparently look inside various types
 of compressed file.
 
-The exact command which runs is C<file -zb path>.  Note in
-particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
-(the I<-b> option).
+The filename is not prepended to the output
+(like the file command I<-b> option).
 
 The output depends on the output of the underlying L<file(1)>
 command and it can change in future in ways beyond our control.