diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfcpu/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfcpu/package.nix
index 6ed6245615ee..6f6d16fee2e1 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfcpu/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfcpu/package.nix
@@ -48,8 +48,10 @@ buildGoModule (finalAttrs: {
 
   # ldflags based on metadata from git and source
   preBuild = ''
-    ldflags+=" -X main.commit=$(cat COMMIT)"
-    ldflags+=" -X main.date=$(cat SOURCE_DATE)"
+    ldflags+=(
+      "-X 'main.commit=$(cat COMMIT)'"
+      "-X 'main.date=$(cat SOURCE_DATE)'"
+    )
   '';
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [