diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 699bfde8..8dc637f2 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ static_link_ok=""
 case "${host}" in
     Darwin) ;;
     *)  tmp=.static.tmp
-        if gcc -xc - -static -o "${tmp}" >/dev/null 2>&1<<-_EOF_
+        if gcc -xc - -static -o "${tmp}" >/dev/null 2>&1 <<-_EOF_
 				int main() { return 0; }
 			_EOF_
         then
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ add_to_kconfig_list static_link_ok
 # Library checks
 libs_exts="so dylib"
 if [ "${static_link_ok}" = "y" ]; then
-    libs_exts+=" a"
+    libs_exts="${libs_exts} a"
 fi
 
 ncurses_hdrs="ncurses/ncurses.h ncurses/curses.h ncurses.h curses.h"