diff --git a/tests/t1/Makefile b/tests/t1/Makefile
index 585f962094f2e32e2d28718af691ce1bf872b5e2..536a816672a394d2f5547585e768e82d73e44bba 100644
--- a/tests/t1/Makefile
+++ b/tests/t1/Makefile
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ check:
 	test -f debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/foo/__init__.py
 	test ! -f debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/foo/spam.py
 	grep -q "Depends: .*python (<<" debian/python-foo/DEBIAN/control
-	[ `readlink debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python$(DPY)/dist-packages/foo/absolute_link_to_tmp` = /tmp ]
-	[ `readlink debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python$(DPY)/dist-packages/foo/link_to_parent_dir` = .. ]
+	[ "`readlink debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python$(DPY)/dist-packages/foo/absolute_link_to_tmp`" = "/tmp" ]
+	[ "`readlink debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python$(DPY)/dist-packages/foo/link_to_parent_dir`" = ".." ]
 
 clean: clean-common
 	rm -rf lib/Foo.egg-info
diff --git a/tests/t5/Makefile b/tests/t5/Makefile
index bac656222f6d902cfc5236e08c91e8ba0bb01171..f5f4fe15592499c24f1b2ddc3678631d6aef4ecb 100644
--- a/tests/t5/Makefile
+++ b/tests/t5/Makefile
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@ check:
 	# test pycompile
 	DESTDIR=debian/python-foo/ ../../pycompile -v debian/python-foo/usr/lib/
 	set -e; for i in remove_this_one bar bar/baz;\
-	do [ `ls debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.*/*-packages/$$i/__init__.py | wc -l` != '0' ];\
-	[ `ls debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.*/*-packages/$$i/__init__.pyc | wc -l` != '0' ];\
+	do [ "`ls debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.*/*-packages/$$i/__init__.py | wc -l`" != '0' ];\
+	[ "`ls debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.*/*-packages/$$i/__init__.pyc | wc -l`" != '0' ];\
 	done
 	# test pyclean
 	DESTDIR=debian/python-foo/ ../../pyclean -v debian/python-foo/usr/lib/
 	set -e; for i in remove_this_one bar bar/baz;\
-	do [ `ls debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.*/*-packages/$$i/__init__.py 2>/dev/null || true | wc -l` = 0 ];\
-	[ `ls debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.*/*-packages/$$i/__init__.pyc 2>/dev/null || true | wc -l` = 0 ];\
+	do [ "`ls debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.*/*-packages/$$i/__init__.py 2>/dev/null || true | wc -l`" = 0 ];\
+	[ "`ls debian/python-foo/usr/lib/python2.*/*-packages/$$i/__init__.pyc 2>/dev/null || true | wc -l`" = 0 ];\
 	done