diff --git a/locate/Makefile.in b/locate/Makefile.in
index 5e1d6d4b..bc7db223 100644
--- a/locate/Makefile.in
+++ b/locate/Makefile.in
@@ -204,14 +204,14 @@ updatedb: updatedb.sh
 	bigram=`echo bigram|sed '$(transform)'`; \
 	code=`echo code|sed '$(transform)'`; \
 	sed \
-	-e "s,@bindir@,$(bindir)," \
-	-e "s,@libexecdir@,$(libexecdir)," \
-	-e "s,@LOCATE_DB@,$(LOCATE_DB)," \
-	-e "s,@version@,$$version," \
-	-e "s,@find@,$$find," \
-	-e "s,@frcode@,$$frcode," \
-	-e "s,@bigram@,$$bigram," \
-	-e "s,@code@,$$code," \
+	-e "s,@""bindir""@,$(bindir)," \
+	-e "s,@""libexecdir""@,$(libexecdir)," \
+	-e "s,@""LOCATE_DB""@,$(LOCATE_DB)," \
+	-e "s,@""version""@,$$version," \
+	-e "s,@""find""@,$${find}," \
+	-e "s,@""frcode""@,$${frcode}," \
+	-e "s,@""bigram""@,$${bigram}," \
+	-e "s,@""code""@,$${code}," \
 	$(srcdir)/updatedb.sh > $@
 	chmod +x $@