diff --git a/configure b/configure
index ac81fbbbd8e..59b63ff4add 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 
-# From configure.in Revision: 1.166 
+# From configure.in Revision: 1.168 
 
 # Guess values for system-dependent variables and create Makefiles.
 # Generated automatically using autoconf version 2.13 
@@ -3102,10 +3102,10 @@ if test "$with_threads" = "no"
 then
     USE_THREAD_MODULE="#"
 else
-    if test ! -z $with_threads -a -d $with_threads
+    if test ! -z "$with_threads" -a -d "$with_threads"
     then LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -L$with_threads"
     fi
-    if test ! -z $withval -a -d $withval
+    if test ! -z "$withval" -a -d "$withval"
     then LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -L$withval"
     fi
     cat >> confdefs.h <<\EOF
@@ -3782,7 +3782,7 @@ EOF
 
 DYNLOADFILE="dynload_dl.o"
 dldir=$withval
-if test ! -z $dldir -a -d $dldir
+if test ! -z "$dldir" -a -d "$dldir"
 then LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -L$dldir"
 else { echo "configure: error: proper usage is --with-sgi-dl=DIRECTORY" 1>&2; exit 1; }
 fi
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index eefea04297c..8517d568d32 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -750,10 +750,10 @@ if test "$with_threads" = "no"
 then
     USE_THREAD_MODULE="#"
 else
-    if test ! -z $with_threads -a -d $with_threads
+    if test ! -z "$with_threads" -a -d "$with_threads"
     then LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -L$with_threads"
     fi
-    if test ! -z $withval -a -d $withval
+    if test ! -z "$withval" -a -d "$withval"
     then LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -L$withval"
     fi
     AC_DEFINE(_REENTRANT)
@@ -889,7 +889,7 @@ AC_MSG_RESULT($withval)
 AC_DEFINE(WITH_SGI_DL)
 DYNLOADFILE="dynload_dl.o"
 dldir=$withval
-if test ! -z $dldir -a -d $dldir
+if test ! -z "$dldir" -a -d "$dldir"
 then LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -L$dldir"
 else AC_ERROR(proper usage is --with-sgi-dl=DIRECTORY)
 fi