diff --git a/samples/runConfigure b/samples/runConfigure
index 5b5aa168839a6802aa115240eaf9a781a1e6af6a..bcaf9cb2862598a4efeb04c9facea8bfa9f380e7 100755
--- a/samples/runConfigure
+++ b/samples/runConfigure
@@ -418,6 +418,10 @@ case $cppcompiler in
    xlC* | xlc* | g++ | c++ | cc | CC | aCC | icc | ICC | cxx | ecc)
       ;;
 
+   '')
+   	  echo "C++ compiler not specified...we'll assume that configure will find it..."
+   	  ;;
+
    *)
       echo "I do not recognize the C++ compiler '$cppcompiler'. Continuing anyway ..."
       ;;
@@ -442,7 +446,7 @@ CFLAGS="$CFLAGS $compileroptions $debugflag $transcodingDefines $threadingDefine
 export CFLAGS
 
 # gcc crashes if optimisation is turned on in a Tru64 environment
-if [ $platform = "tru64" -a $CXX = "g++" ]; then
+if test "$platform" = "tru64" -a "$CXX" = "g++"; then
     CXXFLAGS=`echo $CXXFLAGS | sed -e 's/-O[0-9]*//g'`
     CFLAGS=`echo $CFLAGS | sed -e 's/-O[0-9]*//g'`
     export CXXFLAGS CFLAGS