diff --git a/bootstrap b/bootstrap
index 44bc3281..90f9ee79 100755
--- a/bootstrap
+++ b/bootstrap
@@ -4359,7 +4359,7 @@ func_insert_if_absent ()
       linesold=`func_gitignore_entries "$file" |wc -l`
       linesnew=`$bs_echo "$str" \
                 |func_gitignore_entries - "$file" |sort -u |wc -l`
-      test $linesold -eq $linesnew \
+      test "$linesold" -eq "$linesnew" \
         || sed "1i\\$nl$str$nl" "$file" \
         || func_permissions_error "$file"
     done
diff --git a/gl/build-aux/bootstrap.in b/gl/build-aux/bootstrap.in
index d9c7c272..9a8f358d 100755
--- a/gl/build-aux/bootstrap.in
+++ b/gl/build-aux/bootstrap.in
@@ -2169,7 +2169,7 @@ func_insert_if_absent ()
       linesold=`func_gitignore_entries "$file" |wc -l`
       linesnew=`$bs_echo "$str" \
                 |func_gitignore_entries - "$file" |sort -u |wc -l`
-      test $linesold -eq $linesnew \
+      test "$linesold" -eq "$linesnew" \
         || sed "1i\\$nl$str$nl" "$file" \
         || func_permissions_error "$file"
     done