diff --git a/build/make/gen_msvs_proj.sh b/build/make/gen_msvs_proj.sh
index 0cf335b3d..2b91fbfbc 100755
--- a/build/make/gen_msvs_proj.sh
+++ b/build/make/gen_msvs_proj.sh
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ for opt in "$@"; do
 done
 
 # Make one call to fix_path for file_list to improve performance.
-fix_file_list
+fix_file_list file_list
 
 outfile=${outfile:-/dev/stdout}
 guid=${guid:-`generate_uuid`}
diff --git a/build/make/gen_msvs_vcxproj.sh b/build/make/gen_msvs_vcxproj.sh
index 182ea28fa..e98611d10 100755
--- a/build/make/gen_msvs_vcxproj.sh
+++ b/build/make/gen_msvs_vcxproj.sh
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ for opt in "$@"; do
 done
 
 # Make one call to fix_path for file_list to improve performance.
-fix_file_list
+fix_file_list file_list
 
 outfile=${outfile:-/dev/stdout}
 guid=${guid:-`generate_uuid`}
diff --git a/build/make/msvs_common.sh b/build/make/msvs_common.sh
index 90c14888c..88f1cf9b5 100644
--- a/build/make/msvs_common.sh
+++ b/build/make/msvs_common.sh
@@ -39,11 +39,12 @@ fix_path() {
 }
 
 # Corrects the paths in file_list in one pass for efficiency.
+# $1 is the name of the array to be modified.
 fix_file_list() {
-    # TODO(jzern): this could be more generic and take the array as a param.
-    files=$(fix_path "${file_list[@]}")
+    declare -n array_ref=$1
+    files=$(fix_path "${array_ref[@]}")
     local IFS=$'\n'
-    file_list=($files)
+    array_ref=($files)
 }
 
 generate_uuid() {