diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/copy-desktop-items.sh b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/copy-desktop-items.sh
index 6fa1dc50eb89..313ebc980344 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/copy-desktop-items.sh
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/copy-desktop-items.sh
@@ -28,16 +28,15 @@ copyDesktopItems() {
         return
     fi
 
+    applications="${!outputBin}/share/applications"
     for desktopItem in $desktopItems; do
         if [[ -f "$desktopItem" ]]; then
-            echo \
-              "Copying '$desktopItem' into '${!outputBin}/share/applications'"
-            install -D -m 444 -t "${!outputBin}"/share/applications \
-              "$desktopItem"
+            echo "Copying '$desktopItem' into '${applications}'"
+            install -D -m 444 -t "${applications}" "$desktopItem"
         else
             for f in "$desktopItem"/share/applications/*.desktop; do
-                echo "Copying '$f' into '${!outputBin}/share/applications'"
-                install -D -m 444 -t "${!outputBin}"/share/applications "$f"
+                echo "Copying '$f' into '${applications}'"
+                install -D -m 444 -t "${applications}" "$f"
             done
         fi
     done