diff --git a/contrib/packagelib.sh b/contrib/packagelib.sh
--- a/contrib/packagelib.sh
+++ b/contrib/packagelib.sh
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ gethgversion() {
     make local || make local PURE=--pure
     HG="$PWD/hg"
 
-    $HG version > /dev/null || { echo 'abort: hg version failed!'; exit 1 ; }
+    "$HG" version > /dev/null || { echo 'abort: hg version failed!'; exit 1 ; }
 
-    hgversion=`LANGUAGE=C $HG version | sed -ne 's/.*(version \(.*\))$/\1/p'`
+    hgversion=`LANGUAGE=C "$HG" version | sed -ne 's/.*(version \(.*\))$/\1/p'`
 
     if echo $hgversion | grep + > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
         tmp=`echo $hgversion | cut -d+ -f 2`