diff --git a/src/test/perl/PostgresNode.pm b/src/test/perl/PostgresNode.pm
index 636dfec5c0..57679195b4 100644
--- a/src/test/perl/PostgresNode.pm
+++ b/src/test/perl/PostgresNode.pm
@@ -475,7 +475,8 @@ sub backup
 	my $name        = $self->name;
 
 	print "# Taking pg_basebackup $backup_name from node \"$name\"\n";
-	TestLib::system_or_bail("pg_basebackup -D $backup_path -p $port -x");
+	TestLib::system_or_bail('pg_basebackup', '-D', $backup_path,
+							'-p', $port, '-x');
 	print "# Backup finished\n";
 }
 
@@ -763,7 +764,7 @@ sub enable_restoring
 	my $copy_command =
 	  $TestLib::windows_os
 	  ? qq{copy "$path\\\\%f" "%p"}
-	  : qq{cp $path/%f %p};
+	  : qq{cp "$path/%f" "%p"};
 
 	$self->append_conf(
 		'recovery.conf', qq(
@@ -791,7 +792,7 @@ sub enable_archiving
 	my $copy_command =
 	  $TestLib::windows_os
 	  ? qq{copy "%p" "$path\\\\%f"}
-	  : qq{cp %p $path/%f};
+	  : qq{cp "%p" "$path/%f"};
 
 	# Enable archive_mode and archive_command on node
 	$self->append_conf(
diff --git a/src/tools/msvc/Install.pm b/src/tools/msvc/Install.pm
index 031719d5d8..e27e3f6476 100644
--- a/src/tools/msvc/Install.pm
+++ b/src/tools/msvc/Install.pm
@@ -381,12 +381,21 @@ sub GenerateTimezoneFiles
 	my $mf     = read_file("src/timezone/Makefile");
 	$mf =~ s{\\\r?\n}{}g;
 	$mf =~ /^TZDATA\s*:?=\s*(.*)$/m
-	  || die "Could not find TZDATA row in timezone makefile\n";
+	  || die "Could not find TZDATA line in timezone makefile\n";
 	my @tzfiles = split /\s+/, $1;
-	unshift @tzfiles, '';
+
 	print "Generating timezone files...";
-	system("$conf\\zic\\zic -d \"$target/share/timezone\" "
-		  . join(" src/timezone/data/", @tzfiles));
+
+	my @args = ("$conf/zic/zic",
+				'-d',
+				"$target/share/timezone");
+	foreach (@tzfiles)
+	{
+		my $tzfile = $_;
+		push(@args, "src/timezone/data/$tzfile")
+	}
+
+	system(@args);
 	print "\n";
 }
 
@@ -634,9 +643,10 @@ sub CopyIncludeFiles
 		next unless (-d "src/include/$d");
 
 		EnsureDirectories("$target/include/server/$d");
-		system(
-qq{xcopy /s /i /q /r /y src\\include\\$d\\*.h "$ctarget\\include\\server\\$d\\"}
-		) && croak("Failed to copy include directory $d\n");
+		my @args = ('xcopy', '/s', '/i', '/q', '/r', '/y',
+				 "src\\include\\$d\\*.h",
+				 "$ctarget\\include\\server\\$d\\");
+		system(@args) && croak("Failed to copy include directory $d\n");
 	}
 	closedir($D);
 
@@ -689,9 +699,11 @@ sub GenerateNLSFiles
 
 			EnsureDirectories($target, "share/locale/$lang",
 				"share/locale/$lang/LC_MESSAGES");
-			system(
-"\"$nlspath\\bin\\msgfmt\" -o \"$target\\share\\locale\\$lang\\LC_MESSAGES\\$prgm-$majorver.mo\" $_"
-			) && croak("Could not run msgfmt on $dir\\$_");
+			my @args = ("$nlspath\\bin\\msgfmt",
+			   '-o',
+			   "$target\\share\\locale\\$lang\\LC_MESSAGES\\$prgm-$majorver.mo",
+			   $_);
+			system(@args) && croak("Could not run msgfmt on $dir\\$_");
 			print ".";
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/src/tools/msvc/vcregress.pl b/src/tools/msvc/vcregress.pl
index 075279a00e..cfe18836b2 100644
--- a/src/tools/msvc/vcregress.pl
+++ b/src/tools/msvc/vcregress.pl
@@ -412,35 +412,41 @@ sub upgradecheck
 	print "\nRunning initdb on old cluster\n\n";
 	standard_initdb() or exit 1;
 	print "\nStarting old cluster\n\n";
-	system("pg_ctl start -l $logdir/postmaster1.log -w") == 0 or exit 1;
+	my @args = ('pg_ctl', 'start', '-l', "$logdir/postmaster1.log", '-w');
+	system(@args) == 0 or exit 1;
 	print "\nSetting up data for upgrading\n\n";
 	installcheck();
 
 	# now we can chdir into the source dir
 	chdir "$topdir/src/bin/pg_upgrade";
 	print "\nDumping old cluster\n\n";
-	system("pg_dumpall -f $tmp_root/dump1.sql") == 0 or exit 1;
+	@args = ('pg_dumpall', '-f', "$tmp_root/dump1.sql");
+	system(@args) == 0 or exit 1;
 	print "\nStopping old cluster\n\n";
 	system("pg_ctl -m fast stop") == 0 or exit 1;
 	$ENV{PGDATA} = "$data";
 	print "\nSetting up new cluster\n\n";
 	standard_initdb() or exit 1;
 	print "\nRunning pg_upgrade\n\n";
-	system("pg_upgrade -d $data.old -D $data -b $bindir -B $bindir") == 0
-	  or exit 1;
+	@args = ('pg_upgrade', '-d', "$data.old", '-D', $data, '-b', $bindir,
+			 '-B', $bindir);
+	system(@args) == 0 or exit 1;
 	print "\nStarting new cluster\n\n";
-	system("pg_ctl -l $logdir/postmaster2.log -w start") == 0 or exit 1;
+	@args = ('pg_ctl', '-l', "$logdir/postmaster2.log", '-w', 'start');
+	system(@args) == 0 or exit 1;
 	print "\nSetting up stats on new cluster\n\n";
 	system(".\\analyze_new_cluster.bat") == 0 or exit 1;
 	print "\nDumping new cluster\n\n";
-	system("pg_dumpall -f $tmp_root/dump2.sql") == 0 or exit 1;
+	@args = ('pg_dumpall', '-f', "$tmp_root/dump2.sql");
+	system(@args) == 0 or exit 1;
 	print "\nStopping new cluster\n\n";
 	system("pg_ctl -m fast stop") == 0 or exit 1;
 	print "\nDeleting old cluster\n\n";
 	system(".\\delete_old_cluster.bat") == 0 or exit 1;
 	print "\nComparing old and new cluster dumps\n\n";
 
-	system("diff -q $tmp_root/dump1.sql $tmp_root/dump2.sql");
+	@args = ('diff', '-q', "$tmp_root/dump1.sql", "$tmp_root/dump2.sql");
+	system(@args);
 	$status = $?;
 	if (!$status)
 	{