diff --git a/updater/fetchers/rhel/rhel.go b/updater/fetchers/rhel/rhel.go
index 51f802d9..43d1d5fe 100644
--- a/updater/fetchers/rhel/rhel.go
+++ b/updater/fetchers/rhel/rhel.go
@@ -291,6 +291,7 @@ func toFeatureVersions(criteria criteria) []database.FeatureVersion {
 		}
 
 		if osVersion >= firstConsideredRHEL {
+			// TODO(vbatts) this is where features need multiple labels ('centos' and 'rhel')
 			featureVersion.Feature.Namespace.Name = "centos" + ":" + strconv.Itoa(osVersion)
 		} else {
 			continue
diff --git a/worker/detectors/namespace.go b/worker/detectors/namespace.go
index 7d00cdfc..e77ef23d 100644
--- a/worker/detectors/namespace.go
+++ b/worker/detectors/namespace.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/coreos/clair/database"
+	"github.com/coreos/pkg/capnslog"
 )
 
 // The NamespaceDetector interface defines a way to detect a Namespace from input data.
@@ -34,6 +35,8 @@ type NamespaceDetector interface {
 }
 
 var (
+	nlog = capnslog.NewPackageLogger("github.com/coreos/clair", "worker/detectors")
+
 	namespaceDetectorsLock sync.Mutex
 	namespaceDetectors     = make(map[string]NamespaceDetector)
 )
@@ -62,8 +65,9 @@ func RegisterNamespaceDetector(name string, f NamespaceDetector) {
 
 // DetectNamespace finds the OS of the layer by using every registered NamespaceDetector.
 func DetectNamespace(data map[string][]byte) *database.Namespace {
-	for _, detector := range namespaceDetectors {
+	for name, detector := range namespaceDetectors {
 		if namespace := detector.Detect(data); namespace != nil {
+			nlog.Debugf("detector: %q; namespace: %q\n", name, namespace.Name)
 			return namespace
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/worker/detectors/namespace/osrelease/osrelease.go b/worker/detectors/namespace/osrelease/osrelease.go
index 118fb9fd..b3039629 100644
--- a/worker/detectors/namespace/osrelease/osrelease.go
+++ b/worker/detectors/namespace/osrelease/osrelease.go
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
+	//log = capnslog.NewPackageLogger("github.com/coreos/clair", "worker/detectors/namespace/osrelease")
+
 	osReleaseOSRegexp      = regexp.MustCompile(`^ID=(.*)`)
 	osReleaseVersionRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`^VERSION_ID=(.*)`)
 )
@@ -42,6 +44,12 @@ func init() {
 func (detector *OsReleaseNamespaceDetector) Detect(data map[string][]byte) *database.Namespace {
 	var OS, version string
 
+	for _, filePath := range detector.getExcludeFiles() {
+		if _, hasFile := data[filePath]; hasFile {
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+
 	for _, filePath := range detector.GetRequiredFiles() {
 		f, hasFile := data[filePath]
 		if !hasFile {
@@ -74,3 +82,8 @@ func (detector *OsReleaseNamespaceDetector) Detect(data map[string][]byte) *data
 func (detector *OsReleaseNamespaceDetector) GetRequiredFiles() []string {
 	return []string{"etc/os-release", "usr/lib/os-release"}
 }
+
+// getExcludeFiles returns the list of files that are ought to exclude this detector from Detect()
+func (detector *OsReleaseNamespaceDetector) getExcludeFiles() []string {
+	return []string{"etc/redhat-release", "usr/lib/centos-release"}
+}
diff --git a/worker/detectors/namespace/redhatrelease/redhatrelease.go b/worker/detectors/namespace/redhatrelease/redhatrelease.go
index a6569b07..91e236c7 100644
--- a/worker/detectors/namespace/redhatrelease/redhatrelease.go
+++ b/worker/detectors/namespace/redhatrelease/redhatrelease.go
@@ -20,9 +20,15 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/coreos/clair/database"
 	"github.com/coreos/clair/worker/detectors"
+	"github.com/coreos/pkg/capnslog"
 )
 
-var redhatReleaseRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`(?P<os>[^\s]*) (Linux release|release) (?P<version>[\d]+)`)
+var (
+	log = capnslog.NewPackageLogger("github.com/coreos/clair", "worker/detectors/namespace/redhatrelease")
+
+	centosReleaseRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`(?P<os>[^\s]*) (Linux release|release) (?P<version>[\d]+)`)
+	redhatReleaseRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`(?P<os>Red Hat Enterprise Linux) (Client release|Server release|Workstation release) (?P<version>[\d]+)`)
+)
 
 // RedhatReleaseNamespaceDetector implements NamespaceDetector and detects the OS from the
 // /etc/centos-release, /etc/redhat-release and /etc/system-release files.
@@ -31,6 +37,7 @@ var redhatReleaseRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`(?P<os>[^\s]*) (Linux release|rele
 // eg. CentOS release 5.11 (Final)
 // eg. CentOS release 6.6 (Final)
 // eg. CentOS Linux release 7.1.1503 (Core)
+// eg. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.2 (Maipo)
 type RedhatReleaseNamespaceDetector struct{}
 
 func init() {
@@ -44,10 +51,21 @@ func (detector *RedhatReleaseNamespaceDetector) Detect(data map[string][]byte) *
 			continue
 		}
 
-		r := redhatReleaseRegexp.FindStringSubmatch(string(f))
+		var r []string
+
+		// try for RHEL
+		r = redhatReleaseRegexp.FindStringSubmatch(string(f))
+		if len(r) == 4 {
+			// TODO(vbatts) this is a hack until https://github.com/coreos/clair/pull/193
+			return &database.Namespace{Name: "centos" + ":" + r[3]}
+		}
+
+		// then try centos first
+		r = centosReleaseRegexp.FindStringSubmatch(string(f))
 		if len(r) == 4 {
 			return &database.Namespace{Name: strings.ToLower(r[1]) + ":" + r[3]}
 		}
+
 	}
 
 	return nil