diff --git a/config/mkinstalldirs b/config/mkinstalldirs
index 070b418022b..d7b533bccef 100755
--- a/config/mkinstalldirs
+++ b/config/mkinstalldirs
@@ -105,13 +105,15 @@ esac
 
 for file
 do
-  set fnord `echo ":$file" | sed -ne 's/^:\//#/;s/^://;s/\// /g;s/^#/\//;p'`
+  # pathcomp starts with leading slash if present, else empty
+  pathcomp=`echo "$file" | sed -ne 's|^\(.\).*$|\1|;s|[^/]||;p'`
+  # swap spaces and slashes, then split on spaces
+  set fnord `echo "$file" | tr ' /' '/ '`
   shift
 
-  pathcomp=
   for d
   do
-    pathcomp="$pathcomp$d"
+    pathcomp="$pathcomp"`echo "$d" | tr '/' ' '`
     case $pathcomp in
       -*) pathcomp=./$pathcomp ;;
     esac
diff --git a/src/Makefile.shlib b/src/Makefile.shlib
index 10cc94a4888..1de8838a4fe 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.shlib
+++ b/src/Makefile.shlib
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ ifeq ($(PORTNAME), darwin)
   ifeq ($(DLTYPE), library)
     # linkable library
     DLSUFFIX		:= .dylib
-    LINK.shared		= $(COMPILER) -dynamiclib -install_name $(libdir)/lib$(NAME).$(SO_MAJOR_VERSION)$(DLSUFFIX) $(version_link) $(exported_symbols_list) -multiply_defined suppress
+    LINK.shared		= $(COMPILER) -dynamiclib -install_name "$(libdir)/lib$(NAME).$(SO_MAJOR_VERSION)$(DLSUFFIX)" $(version_link) $(exported_symbols_list) -multiply_defined suppress
   else
     # loadable module (default case)
     DLSUFFIX		:= .so
diff --git a/src/makefiles/pgxs.mk b/src/makefiles/pgxs.mk
index 607201caaf8..a825fe6e111 100644
--- a/src/makefiles/pgxs.mk
+++ b/src/makefiles/pgxs.mk
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ endif
 
 # against installed postmaster
 installcheck: submake
-	$(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress --psqldir=$(PSQLDIR) $(REGRESS_OPTS) $(REGRESS)
+	$(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress --psqldir="$(PSQLDIR)" $(REGRESS_OPTS) $(REGRESS)
 
 # in-tree test doesn't work yet (no way to install my shared library)
 #check: all submake
diff --git a/src/pl/plperl/GNUmakefile b/src/pl/plperl/GNUmakefile
index 2da437d470e..fed7508ad8c 100644
--- a/src/pl/plperl/GNUmakefile
+++ b/src/pl/plperl/GNUmakefile
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ uninstall:
 	rm -f '$(DESTDIR)$(pkglibdir)/plperl$(DLSUFFIX)'
 
 installcheck: submake
-	$(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress --psqldir=$(PSQLDIR) $(REGRESS_OPTS) $(REGRESS)
+	$(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress --psqldir="$(PSQLDIR)" $(REGRESS_OPTS) $(REGRESS)
 
 .PHONY: submake
 submake:
diff --git a/src/pl/plpython/Makefile b/src/pl/plpython/Makefile
index 9d02f4d7f41..c5165986394 100644
--- a/src/pl/plpython/Makefile
+++ b/src/pl/plpython/Makefile
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ uninstall:
 	rm -f '$(DESTDIR)$(pkglibdir)/plpython$(DLSUFFIX)'
 
 installcheck: submake
-	$(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress --psqldir=$(PSQLDIR) $(REGRESS_OPTS) $(REGRESS)
+	$(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress --psqldir="$(PSQLDIR)" $(REGRESS_OPTS) $(REGRESS)
 
 .PHONY: submake
 submake:
diff --git a/src/pl/tcl/Makefile b/src/pl/tcl/Makefile
index 6fc6cc272ff..29905d0266c 100644
--- a/src/pl/tcl/Makefile
+++ b/src/pl/tcl/Makefile
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ uninstall:
 	$(MAKE) -C modules $@
 
 installcheck: submake
-	$(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress --psqldir=$(PSQLDIR) $(REGRESS_OPTS) $(REGRESS)
+	$(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress --psqldir="$(PSQLDIR)" $(REGRESS_OPTS) $(REGRESS)
 
 .PHONY: submake
 submake:
diff --git a/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile b/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile
index d126ae5fa40..e1553fcf607 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile
+++ b/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ output_files := $(foreach file, $(file_list), expected/$(file).out)
 all: $(input_files) $(output_files)
 
 ifneq ($(PORTNAME),win32)
-abs_srcdir := $(shell cd $(srcdir) && pwd)
+abs_srcdir := $(shell cd "$(srcdir)" && pwd)
 abs_builddir := $(shell pwd)
 else
 abs_srcdir := $(shell cd $(srcdir) && sh -c "pwd -W")
@@ -148,17 +148,17 @@ all-spi:
 check: all
 	-rm -rf ./testtablespace
 	mkdir ./testtablespace
-	./pg_regress --temp-install=./tmp_check --top-builddir=$(top_builddir) --temp-port=$(TEMP_PORT) --schedule=$(srcdir)/parallel_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(MAXCONNOPT) $(NOLOCALE)
+	./pg_regress --temp-install=./tmp_check --top-builddir=$(top_builddir) --temp-port=$(TEMP_PORT) --schedule="$(srcdir)"/parallel_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(MAXCONNOPT) $(NOLOCALE)
 
 installcheck: all
 	-rm -rf ./testtablespace
 	mkdir ./testtablespace
-	./pg_regress --psqldir=$(PSQLDIR) --schedule=$(srcdir)/serial_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(NOLOCALE)
+	./pg_regress --psqldir="$(PSQLDIR)" --schedule="$(srcdir)"/serial_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(NOLOCALE)
 
 installcheck-parallel: all
 	-rm -rf ./testtablespace
 	mkdir ./testtablespace
-	./pg_regress --psqldir=$(PSQLDIR) --schedule=$(srcdir)/parallel_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(MAXCONNOPT) $(NOLOCALE)
+	./pg_regress --psqldir="$(PSQLDIR)" --schedule="$(srcdir)"/parallel_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(MAXCONNOPT) $(NOLOCALE)
 
 
 # old interfaces follow...
@@ -168,10 +168,10 @@ runtest: installcheck
 runtest-parallel: installcheck-parallel
 
 bigtest:
-	./pg_regress --psqldir=$(PSQLDIR) --schedule=$(srcdir)/serial_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(NOLOCALE) numeric_big 
+	./pg_regress --psqldir="$(PSQLDIR)" --schedule="$(srcdir)"/serial_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(NOLOCALE) numeric_big 
 
 bigcheck:
-	./pg_regress --temp-install=./tmp_check --top-builddir=$(top_builddir) --temp-port=$(TEMP_PORT) --schedule=$(srcdir)/parallel_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(MAXCONNOPT) $(NOLOCALE) numeric_big
+	./pg_regress --temp-install=./tmp_check --top-builddir=$(top_builddir) --temp-port=$(TEMP_PORT) --schedule="$(srcdir)"/parallel_schedule --multibyte=$(MULTIBYTE) --load-language=plpgsql $(MAXCONNOPT) $(NOLOCALE) numeric_big
 
 
 ##