diff --git a/contrib/deb/generate.sh b/contrib/deb/generate.sh
index 0244484d..ed8f86fe 100644
--- a/contrib/deb/generate.sh
+++ b/contrib/deb/generate.sh
@@ -4,13 +4,13 @@
 # mesh and enables it in systemd. You can give it the PKGARCH= argument
 # i.e. PKGARCH=i386 sh contrib/deb/generate.sh
 
-if [ $(pwd) != $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel) ]
+if [ "$(pwd)" != "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)" ]
 then
   echo "You should run this script from the top-level directory of the git repo"
   exit 1
 fi
 
-PKGBRANCH=$(basename $(git name-rev --name-only HEAD))
+PKGBRANCH=$(basename "$(git name-rev --name-only HEAD)")
 PKG=$(sh contrib/semver/name.sh)
 PKGVERSION=$(sh contrib/semver/version.sh --bare)
 PKGARCH=${PKGARCH-amd64}