diff --git a/tests/seq/basic b/tests/seq/basic
index 8d00e1f53..330139027 100755
--- a/tests/seq/basic
+++ b/tests/seq/basic
@@ -5,14 +5,15 @@
 : ${srcdir=.}
 
 case "$PERL" in
-  *'missing perl')
-  echo 1>&2 "$0: configure didn't find a usable version of Perl, so can't run this test"
-  #'
-  exit 77
-  ;;
+  *missing\ perl)
+    echo 1>&2 "$0: configure didn't find a usable version of Perl," \
+      "so can't run this test"
+    exit 77
+    ;;
 esac
 
-exec $PERL -w -I$srcdir/.. -MFetish -- - << \EOF
+d=$srcdir/..
+exec $PERL -w -I$d -MFetish -- - << \EOF
 require 5.003;
 use strict;