...

~$ tr -d "=" <dist>dist.fixed; mv dist dist.old; mv dist.fixed dist

This works on the whole file. On the other hand, if you just want to use a filter on a line *before* writing it to the dist file, use

... | sed 's/=/' | ...

For instance, if the address sits in a variable, say, $email, and you want to append it to the dist file,

echo $email | sed 's/=//' >> dist

Exactly where you want to put it, should be pretty clear, I guess.

- M