diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 14806ea..c98e715 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # !/bin/sh -e
 
-if test -z `which autoreconf`; then
+AUTORECONF=`which autoreconf 2>/dev/null`
+if test $? -ne 0; then
   echo "No 'autoreconf' found. You must install the autoconf package."
   exit 1
 fi
@@ -9,15 +10,16 @@ fi
 mkdir m4 2>/dev/null
 
 GTKDOCIZE=`which gtkdocize 2>/dev/null`
-if test -z $GTKDOCIZE; then
+if test $? -ne 0; then
   echo "No gtk-doc support found. You can't build the docs."
   echo "EXTRA_DIST =" >gtk-doc.make
   echo "CLEANFILES =" >>gtk-doc.make
+  GTKDOCIZE=""
 else
-  gtkdocize || exit $?
+  $GTKDOCIZE || exit $?
 fi
 
-autoreconf --install --force --symlink || exit $?
+$AUTORECONF --install --force --symlink || exit $?
 
 echo
 echo "----------------------------------------------------------------"