Index: acinclude.m4
===================================================================
--- acinclude.m4	(revision 8547)
+++ acinclude.m4	(working copy)
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS(universal_variables,[
 # clear files
 for f in src/tUniversalVariables.h.in.new universal_variables universal_variable_substitutions universal_variable_values.in universal_variable_values_makefile.new universal_variable_values_makefile_sed.new; do
-    echo -n "" > $f
+    touch $f
 done
 
 # prepare value inserting makefile:
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@
 
     # add C macro to prototype file (later modified by the makefile
     # to contain the possibly modified variable values)
-    echo -e "#ifndef ${variable_u}\n    #define ${variable_u} \"@${variable}@\"\n#endif" >> src/tUniversalVariables.h.in.new
+    printf "#ifndef %s\n    #define %s \"@%s@\"\n#endif\n" "${variable_u}" "${variable_u}" "${variable}" >> src/tUniversalVariables.h.in.new
 
     # generate prototype for file containing the actual values of the variables
     # echo ${variable}=@${variable}@  >> universal_variable_values.in
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@
 #echo ap=${ac_aa_pathvars}
 # put the path names into a file
 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS(pathsubstitution,[
-echo -n "" > batch/relocate.in
+touch batch/relocate.in
 
 # generate path relocation sed script: replaces @foo_reloc@ with the
 # output of `relocate @foo@`, where @foo@ itself is replaced during
Index: configure.ac
===================================================================
--- configure.ac	(revision 8547)
+++ configure.ac	(working copy)
@@ -525,9 +525,7 @@
 
 test -z "$XML2_CONFIG" && XML2_CONFIG=xml2-config
 
-if $XML2_CONFIG --libs > /dev/null; then
-  echo -n ""
-else
+if ! $XML2_CONFIG --libs > /dev/null; then
   AC_MSG_ERROR([Fatal error: the libxml2 configuration script $XML2_CONFIG does not work/exist.])
 fi