diff --git a/maintainers/scripts/gnu/gnupdate b/maintainers/scripts/gnu/gnupdate
index c0dcd078553..741ce7e63ee 100755
--- a/maintainers/scripts/gnu/gnupdate
+++ b/maintainers/scripts/gnu/gnupdate
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-exec "${GUILE:-guile}" "$GUILE_FLAGS" -L . -l gnupdate.scm \
+exec "${GUILE:-guile}" $GUILE_FLAGS -L . -l gnupdate.scm \
   -e '(apply main (cdr (command-line)))' -- "$@"