> but there can be no more than 1 space between the ; and the close tag

there must be **exactly** 1 space, or "\n".
below is how php trims the ending tag.

> seek_for("__HALT_COMPILER();");
> read_3_into(buffer);
> if ((*buffer == ' ' || *buffer == '\n') && *(buffer + 1) == '?' && *(buffer + 2) == '>') {
> do_things.