diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 8c8ddabd3d9..3b4402a41ff 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -4130,7 +4130,7 @@ else
   ;;
   *)
   as_save_IFS=$IFS; IFS=$PATH_SEPARATOR
-for as_dir in /sbin:/usr/sbin:$PATH
+for as_dir in /sbin /usr/sbin $PATH
 do
   IFS=$as_save_IFS
   test -z "$as_dir" && as_dir=.
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 3af335e628d..0f6002ea817 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ AC_PROG_RANLIB
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
 AC_PROG_LN_S
 AC_CHECK_PROG(C2MAN,c2man,c2man,\$(TOPSRCDIR)/tools/c2man.pl)
-AC_PATH_PROG(LDCONFIG, ldconfig, true, /sbin:/usr/sbin:$PATH)
+AC_PATH_PROG(LDCONFIG, ldconfig, true, [/sbin /usr/sbin $PATH])
 
 dnl Check for lint
 AC_CHECK_PROGS(LINT, lclint lint)