diff -Nru a2ps-4.13.orig/contrib/Makefile.in a2ps-4.13/contrib/Makefile.in
--- a2ps-4.13.orig/contrib/Makefile.in	2005-04-16 21:34:09.000000000 +0200
+++ a2ps-4.13/contrib/Makefile.in	2005-04-16 21:36:27.000000000 +0200
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@
 install_sh = @install_sh@
 lispdir = @lispdir@
 
-SUBDIRS = sample emacs
+SUBDIRS = sample
 
 bin_SCRIPTS = card fixps pdiff psmandup psset texi2dvi4a2ps
 bin_PROGRAMS = fixnt
diff -Nru a2ps-4.13.orig/contrib/fixps.in a2ps-4.13/contrib/fixps.in
--- a2ps-4.13.orig/contrib/fixps.in	2005-04-16 21:34:09.000000000 +0200
+++ a2ps-4.13/contrib/fixps.in	2005-04-16 21:34:54.000000000 +0200
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 run_gs=0
 # What action to perform: fixps, cat, check, and gs
 task=fixps
-tmpdir=/tmp/$program.$$
+tmpdir=`mktemp -d -t fixps.XXXXXX` || { echo "$program: Cannot create temporary dir!" >&2 ; exit 1; }
 verbose=echo
 
 # The version/usage strings
@@ -191,7 +191,6 @@
   trap "/bin/rm -rf $tmpdir" 0 1 2 3 13 15
 fi
 
-mkdir $tmpdir
 fixps_sed=$tmpdir/fixps.sed
 
 # If printing from stdin, save into a tmp file
diff -Nru a2ps-4.13.orig/contrib/psmandup.in a2ps-4.13/contrib/psmandup.in
--- a2ps-4.13.orig/contrib/psmandup.in	2005-04-16 21:34:09.000000000 +0200
+++ a2ps-4.13/contrib/psmandup.in	2005-04-16 21:35:05.000000000 +0200
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 message=
 psselect=${PSSELECT:-psselect}
 psset=${PSSET:-psset}
-tmpdir=/tmp/$program.$$
+tmpdir=`mktemp -d -t fixps.XXXXXX` || { echo "$program: Cannot create temporary dir!" >&2 ; exit 1; }
 
 # These two must be kept in synch.  They are opposed.
 verbose=echo
@@ -185,7 +185,6 @@
   trap "/bin/rm -rf $tmpdir" 0 1 2 3 13 15
 fi
 
-mkdir $tmpdir
 
 # If printing from stdin, save into a tmp file
 if test $file = '-'; then
diff -Nru a2ps-4.13.orig/lib/path-concat.c a2ps-4.13/lib/path-concat.c
--- a2ps-4.13.orig/lib/path-concat.c	2005-04-16 21:34:09.000000000 +0200
+++ a2ps-4.13/lib/path-concat.c	2005-04-16 21:36:01.000000000 +0200
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 #endif
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
-char *malloc ();
 
 #ifndef DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR
 # define DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR '/'
diff -Nru a2ps-4.13.orig/src/select.c a2ps-4.13/src/select.c
--- a2ps-4.13.orig/src/select.c	2005-04-16 21:34:09.000000000 +0200
+++ a2ps-4.13/src/select.c	2005-04-16 21:35:11.000000000 +0200
@@ -131,6 +131,36 @@
   return 1;
 }
 
+/* escapes the name of a file so that the shell groks it in 'single' q.marks. 
+   The resulting pointer has to be free()ed when not longer used. */
+char *
+shell_escape(const char *fn)
+{
+  size_t len = 0;
+  const char *inp;
+  char *retval, *outp;
+
+  for(inp = fn; *inp; ++inp)
+    switch(*inp)
+    {
+      case '\'': len += 4; break;
+      default:   len += 1; break;
+    }
+
+  outp = retval = malloc(len + 1);
+  if(!outp)
+    return NULL; /* perhaps one should do better error handling here */
+  for(inp = fn; *inp; ++inp)
+    switch(*inp)
+    {
+      case '\'': *outp++ = '\''; *outp++ = '\\'; *outp++ = '\'', *outp++ = '\''; break;
+      default:   *outp++ = *inp; break;
+    }
+  *outp = 0;
+
+  return retval;
+}
+
 /* What says file about the type of a file (result is malloc'd).  NULL
   if could not be run.  */
 
@@ -144,11 +174,15 @@
   if (IS_EMPTY (job->file_command))
     return NULL;
 
+  filename = shell_escape(filename);
+  if(filename == NULL)
+    return NULL;
   /* Call file(1) with the correct option */
-  command = ALLOCA (char, (2
+  command = ALLOCA (char, (4
 			   + strlen (job->file_command)
 			   + ustrlen (filename)));
-  sprintf (command, "%s %s", job->file_command, (const char *) filename);
+  sprintf (command, "%s '%s'", job->file_command, (const char *) filename);
+  free(filename);
   message (msg_tool, (stderr, "Reading pipe: `%s'\n", command));
   file_out = popen (command, "r");