diff --git a/bin/smartlink b/bin/smartlink
index aeaa7943975b00a0073f660a33743ff9eb51e281..5f7691e767d5c98357f243a5d95acd5f6e5e310f 100755
--- a/bin/smartlink
+++ b/bin/smartlink
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ LD_PXDB=/dev/null
 export LD_PXDB
 
 #Special hack for SGI
-if test "${SGI_ABI:-}" = ""; then
+if test "x$SGI_ABI" = "x"; then
   SGI_ABI=-n32
 fi
 export SGI_API