diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/automake/setup-hook.sh b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/automake/setup-hook.sh
index 156e6ab67128..6f34f0d0ae17 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/automake/setup-hook.sh
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/automake/setup-hook.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 addAclocals () {
-    addToSearchPathWithCustomDelimiter ACLOCAL_PATH $1/share/aclocal
+    addToSearchPathWithCustomDelimiter : ACLOCAL_PATH $1/share/aclocal
 }
 
 envHooks=(${envHooks[@]} addAclocals)