diff --git a/bin/dunecontrol b/bin/dunecontrol
index 384b4ae67bf62b111f3113eec26c5a5f1e620666..e3e20994730e120c898d50afc5b064b81523f3e5 100755
--- a/bin/dunecontrol
+++ b/bin/dunecontrol
@@ -570,11 +570,10 @@ run_default_configure () {
     if test "x$LOCAL_USE_CMAKE" = "xyes"; then
       # we have to export the compiler and compiler flags
       # such that they are honored by cmake.
-      trimmed=`echo $PARAMS|sed "s/^\s*\(.*\)\s*$/\1/"`
       flags="CXX CC CXXFLAGS CFLAGS CPPFLAGS LDFLAGS F77 FFLAGS FLIBS FC FCFLAGS FCLIBS LIBS"
       for i in  $flags; do
-        cflags=`echo $trimmed | sed "s/.*\($i=\"[^\"]*\"\|$i='[^']*'\|$i=[^\s^ ]*\).*/\1/"`
-        if test "$cflags" != "$trimmed"; then
+        cflags=`echo "$PARAMS" | sed "s/.*\($i=\"[^\"]*\"\|$i='[^']*'\|$i=[^\s^ ]*\).*/\1/"`
+        if test "$cflags" != "$PARAMS"; then
             PREPARAMS="$PREPARAMS $cflags"
         fi
       done
diff --git a/lib/dunecommonam2cmake.lib b/lib/dunecommonam2cmake.lib
index d0ad482bd2b83b95ca6976a6dbce7801d6c408b3..2a041d7ffe3c763d1343f8136484201a93ac8ac8 100644
--- a/lib/dunecommonam2cmake.lib
+++ b/lib/dunecommonam2cmake.lib
@@ -37,13 +37,13 @@ dune_common_options_am2cmake()
     fi
 
     # Check for --with-minimal-debug-level
-    local arg=`echo $PARAMS| sed "s/.*--with-minimal-debug-level=\(\S*\).*/\1/"`
+    local arg=`echo "$PARAMS"| sed "s/.*--with-minimal-debug-level=\(\S*\).*/\1/"`
     if test "x$arg" != "x$PARAMS"; then
         CMAKE_PARAMS="$CMAKE_PARAMS -DMINIMAL_DEBUG_LEVEL:String=$arg"
     fi
 
     #Check for --prefix
-    local arg=`echo $PARAMS| sed "s/.*--prefix=\(\S*\).*/\1/"`
+    local arg=`echo "$PARAMS"| sed "s/.*--prefix=\(\S*\).*/\1/"`
     if test "x$arg" != "x$PARAMS"; then
         CMAKE_PARAMS="$CMAKE_PARAMS -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$arg"
     fi
diff --git a/lib/dunemodules.lib b/lib/dunemodules.lib
index 59c84f897de8b03f8109d78112a26e8c573081cc..ce28c788190a608155783e9310622d947f0f7a6a 100644
--- a/lib/dunemodules.lib
+++ b/lib/dunemodules.lib
@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ default_am2cmake_libraries(){
 	fi
 	export "$lowercase"-lib_processed=1
 	term="s/.*--with-""$lowercase""-lib=\(\S*\).*/\1/"
-	arg=`echo $PARAMS | sed "$term"`
+        arg=`echo "$PARAMS" | sed "$term"`
 	if test "x$arg" != "x" && test "x$PARAMS" != "x$arg"; then
 	    CMAKE_PARAMS="$CMAKE_PARAMS -D$uppercase""_LIBRARY=$arg"
 	fi