diff --git a/cf/broken.m4 b/cf/broken.m4
index 31cf611d2..34cc082ad 100644
--- a/cf/broken.m4
+++ b/cf/broken.m4
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ AC_DEFUN(AC_BROKEN,
 do
 AC_CHECK_FUNC($ac_func, [
 ac_tr_func=HAVE_[]upcase($ac_func)
-AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED($ac_tr_func)],[LIBOBJS="$LIBOBJS ${ac_func}.o"])
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED($ac_tr_func)],[LIBOBJS[]="$LIBOBJS ${ac_func}.o"])
 dnl autoheader tricks *sigh*
 : << END
 @@@funcs="$funcs $1"@@@
diff --git a/cf/find-if-not-broken.m4 b/cf/find-if-not-broken.m4
index 1cd66a3d3..822e29770 100644
--- a/cf/find-if-not-broken.m4
+++ b/cf/find-if-not-broken.m4
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ dnl
 AC_DEFUN(AC_FIND_IF_NOT_BROKEN,
 [AC_FIND_FUNC([$1], [$2], [$3], [$4])
 if eval "test \"$ac_cv_func_$1\" != yes"; then
-LIBOBJS="$LIBOBJS $1.o"
+LIBOBJS[]="$LIBOBJS $1.o"
 fi
 AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS)dnl
 ])