diff --git a/srcpkgs/perl/template b/srcpkgs/perl/template
index 1099d561298..72fbcfcbc85 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/perl/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/perl/template
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ do_configure() {
 	export LD="$CC"
 	./configure --prefix=/usr $_args \
 		-Dcccdlflags="-fPIC" \
-		-Doptimize="${CFLAGS}" -Dccflags="${CFLAGS}" \
+		-Doptimize=" ${CFLAGS} " -Dccflags=" ${CFLAGS} " \
 		-Dlddlflags="-shared ${LDFLAGS}" -Dldflags="${LDFLAGS}" \
 		-Dperl_static_inline='static __inline__' -Dd_static_inline ||
 	{