diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1e69ec48d2..235f19b438 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1469,7 +1469,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([
 ])
 
 if test x$asciidoc = xtrue && test "$ASCIIDOC" = "none" ; then
-  regular_mans=(doc/tor doc/tor-gencert doc/tor-resolve doc/torify)
+  regular_mans="doc/tor doc/tor-gencert doc/tor-resolve doc/torify"
   for file in $regular_mans ; do
     if ! [[ -f "$srcdir/$file.1.in" ]] || ! [[ -f "$srcdir/$file.html.in" ]] ; then
       echo "==================================";