diff --git a/libIDL.spec b/libIDL.spec
index eea3434..fc00938 100644
--- a/libIDL.spec
+++ b/libIDL.spec
@@ -19,10 +19,11 @@ BuildRequires:  glib2-devel >= 2.0
 BuildRequires:  flex
 BuildRequires:  bison
 
-
-%description
+%global common_description %{expand:
 libIDL is a library for parsing IDL (Interface Definition Language). It can be
-used for both COM-style and CORBA-style IDL.
+used for both COM-style and CORBA-style IDL.}
+
+%description %{common_description}
 
 
 %package devel
@@ -31,9 +32,7 @@ Requires:       %{name} = %{version}-%{release}
 Requires:       pkgconfig >= 1:0.8
 Requires:       glib2-devel%{?_isa} >= 2.0
 
-%description devel
-libIDL is a library for parsing IDL (Interface Definition Language). It can be
-used for both COM-style and CORBA-style IDL.
+%description devel  %{common_description}
 
 This package contains the header files and libraries needed to write or compile
 programs that use libIDL.