diff --git a/scripts/checkdeps b/scripts/checkdeps
index 2bba4f10c1..4bbe03a89d 100755
--- a/scripts/checkdeps
+++ b/scripts/checkdeps
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ if [ -n "$need" ]; then
 
   [ -f /etc/lsb-release ] && . /etc/lsb-release
 
-  if [ $DISTRIB_ID = "Ubuntu" -a -n "`which apt-get 2>/dev/null`" ]; then
+  if [ "$DISTRIB_ID" = "Ubuntu" -a -n "`which apt-get 2>/dev/null`" ]; then
     echo "**** You seem to use an Ubuntu system ****"
     read -p "would you like to sudo apt-get install the needed tools ? (y/n) " ans
     [ "$ans" = "y" ] && sudo apt-get install $need_pkg