diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 75a882b12a..17dd05a94c 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -193,8 +193,8 @@ dnl something different but only have that affect the execution of the results
 dnl of the compile, not change the libraries for the compiler itself.
 dnl
 compilersh="run-compiler"
-echo "CC=$CC" > $compilersh
-echo "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH" >> $compilersh
+echo "CC=\"$CC\"" > $compilersh
+echo "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=\"$LD_LIBRARY_PATH\"" >> $compilersh
 echo 'exec $CC $@' >> $compilersh
 
 dnl **********************************************************************