diff --git a/meta/uninstalled-env.in b/meta/uninstalled-env.in
index eec648d72..918b94da7 100644
--- a/meta/uninstalled-env.in
+++ b/meta/uninstalled-env.in
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ export PKG_CONFIG_PATH
 # handle PATH (no clobber)
 PATH="${top_builddir}/libguile:${PATH}"
 PATH="${top_srcdir}/meta:${PATH}"
-if "x${top_srcdir}" != "x${top_builddir}"; then
+if test "x${top_srcdir}" != "x${top_builddir}"; then
   PATH="${top_builddir}/meta:${PATH}"
 fi
 export PATH