diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index 3ff318719..377d733c7 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -4744,7 +4744,7 @@ while(@ARGV) {
         # the development version as then it won't be able to run any tests
         # since it can't verify the servers!
 
-        $VCURL=$ARGV[1];
+        $VCURL="\"$ARGV[1]\"";
         shift @ARGV;
     }
     elsif ($ARGV[0] eq "-d") {