diff --git a/general_utils b/general_utils
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 522be45..6246c33
--- a/general_utils
+++ b/general_utils
@@ -25,6 +25,6 @@ exec_process_substitution () {
     __result=${__result//[$'\r\n\t']/ } # remove \r\n\t from __result
 
     log_debug "$func:${LINENO} result=$__result"
-    printf '%s' $__result
+    printf '%s' "$__result"
     return $__result_code
 }
diff --git a/git_helpers b/git_helpers
index a067d4d..be969d4 100755
--- a/git_helpers
+++ b/git_helpers
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ latest_commit () {
     if ! [ -z "$c" ]; then
         if grep -qE "^[[:xdigit:]]{6,}$" <<< $c; then
             log_debug "$func:${LINENO} commit -> $c"
-            printf "%s\n" $c
+            printf "%s\n" "$c"
         else
             log_crit "$func:${LINENO} wrong format for commit c=$c"
         fi