diff -ur octave-forge-2006.07.09.orig/configure octave-forge-2006.07.09/configure
--- octave-forge-2006.07.09.orig/configure	2006-07-09 19:00:05.000000000 -0700
+++ octave-forge-2006.07.09/configure	2007-04-11 20:52:14.000000000 -0700
@@ -4217,7 +4217,7 @@
 
 echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking for autoload in Octave" >&5
 echo $ECHO_N "checking for autoload in Octave... $ECHO_C" >&6
-if test `echo 'disp(exist("autoload"))' | $OCTAVE -qf`X != 0X ; then
+if test `echo 'disp(exist("autoload"))' | $OCTAVE -qf | sed 's/ //'`X != 0X ; then
    echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: yes" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}yes" >&6
 
@@ -4241,7 +4241,7 @@
 
 echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking for do_fortran_indexing in Octave" >&5
 echo $ECHO_N "checking for do_fortran_indexing in Octave... $ECHO_C" >&6
-if test `echo 'disp(exist("do_fortran_indexing"))' | $OCTAVE -qf`X != 0X ; then
+if test `echo 'disp(exist("do_fortran_indexing"))' | $OCTAVE -qf | sed 's/ //'`X != 0X ; then
    echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: yes" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}yes" >&6
    HAVE_DO_FORTRAN_INDEXING="-DHAVE_DO_FORTRAN_INDEXING"
@@ -4255,7 +4255,7 @@
 
 echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking for propagate_empty_matrices in Octave" >&5
 echo $ECHO_N "checking for propagate_empty_matrices in Octave... $ECHO_C" >&6
-if test `echo 'disp(exist("propagate_empty_matrices"))' | $OCTAVE -qf`X != 0X ; then
+if test `echo 'disp(exist("propagate_empty_matrices"))' | $OCTAVE -qf | sed 's/ //'`X != 0X ; then
    echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: yes" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}yes" >&6
    PROPAGATE_EMPTY_MATRICES="-DHAVE_PROPAGATE_EMPTY_MATRICES"
@@ -4269,7 +4269,7 @@
 
 echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking for ok_to_lose_imaginary_part in Octave" >&5
 echo $ECHO_N "checking for ok_to_lose_imaginary_part in Octave... $ECHO_C" >&6
-if test `echo 'disp(exist("ok_to_lose_imaginary_part"))' | $OCTAVE -qf`X != 0X ; then
+if test `echo 'disp(exist("ok_to_lose_imaginary_part"))' | $OCTAVE -qf | sed 's/ //'`X != 0X ; then
    echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: yes" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}yes" >&6
    HAVE_OK_TO_LOSE_IMAGINARY_PART="-DHAVE_OK_TO_LOSE_IMAGINARY_PART"
@@ -4306,7 +4306,7 @@
 
 echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking for class in Octave" >&5
 echo $ECHO_N "checking for class in Octave... $ECHO_C" >&6
-if test `echo 'disp(exist("class"))' | $OCTAVE -qf`X != 0X ; then
+if test `echo 'disp(exist("class"))' | $OCTAVE -qf | sed 's/ //'`X != 0X ; then
    echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: yes" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}yes" >&6
    TYPEID_HAS_CLASS="-DTYPEID_HAS_CLASS"
diff -ur octave-forge-2006.07.09.orig/configure.base octave-forge-2006.07.09/configure.base
--- octave-forge-2006.07.09.orig/configure.base	2006-01-06 21:11:56.000000000 -0800
+++ octave-forge-2006.07.09/configure.base	2007-04-11 20:42:42.000000000 -0700
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@
 dnl
 AC_DEFUN(OCTAVE_CHECK_EXIST,
 [AC_MSG_CHECKING([for $1 in Octave])
-if test `echo 'disp(exist("$1"))' | $OCTAVE -qf`X != 0X ; then
+if test `echo 'disp(exist("$1"))' | $OCTAVE -qf | sed 's/ //g'`X != 0X ; then
    AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
    $2
 else