diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/DebianPlugin.scala b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/DebianPlugin.scala
index 2f33d85cc..ca09bad0b 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/DebianPlugin.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/DebianPlugin.scala
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ trait DebianPluginLike {
                                             streams: TaskStreams): (String, String) = {
     // how to create the chownCmd. TODO maybe configurable?
     def chownCmd(user: String, group: String)(path: String): String =
-      s"chown $user:$group $path"
+      s"chown $user:$group '$path'"
 
     val header = "# Chown definitions created by SBT Native Packager\n"
     // Check for non root user/group and create chown commands
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-group-gid-deb/build.sbt b/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-group-gid-deb/build.sbt
index 625843d1c..9759c5474 100644
--- a/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-group-gid-deb/build.sbt
+++ b/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-group-gid-deb/build.sbt
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ TaskKey[Unit]("checkControlFiles") := {
     "postinst misses useradd for daemonuser: " + postinst
   )
   assert(
-    postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup /var/log/debian-test",
-    "postinst misses chown daemonuser /var/log/debian-test: " + postinst
+    postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup '/var/log/debian-test'",
+    "postinst misses chown daemonuser '/var/log/debian-test': " + postinst
   )
   assert(!(postinst contains "addgroup --system daemonuser"), "postinst has addgroup for daemonuser: " + postinst)
   assert(
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-user-deb/build.sbt b/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-user-deb/build.sbt
index 01b6e19a8..efd7d188b 100644
--- a/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-user-deb/build.sbt
+++ b/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-user-deb/build.sbt
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ TaskKey[Unit]("checkControlFiles") := {
     "postinst misses useradd for daemonuser: " + postinst
   )
   assert(
-    postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup /var/log/debian-test",
-    "postinst misses chown daemonuser /var/log/debian-test: " + postinst
+    postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup '/var/log/debian-test'",
+    "postinst misses chown daemonuser '/var/log/debian-test': " + postinst
   )
   assert(!(postinst contains "addgroup --system daemonuser"), "postinst has addgroup for daemonuser: " + postinst)
   assert(
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ TaskKey[Unit]("checkControlFiles") := {
   assert(!(postinst contains "chown daemonuser:debian-test"), "postinst contains wrong group: \n" + postinst)
   assert(!(postinst contains "chown debian-test:debian-test"), "postinst contains wrong user and group: \n" + postinst)
   assert(
-    !(postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup /usr/share/debian-test"),
+    !(postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup '/usr/share/debian-test'"),
     "postinst contains chown /usr/share/app_name:  \n" + postinst
   )
   streams.value.log.success("Successfully tested upstart control files")
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-user-uid-deb/build.sbt b/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-user-uid-deb/build.sbt
index f582f1668..2ba744fae 100644
--- a/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-user-uid-deb/build.sbt
+++ b/src/sbt-test/debian/daemon-user-uid-deb/build.sbt
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ TaskKey[Unit]("checkControlFiles") := {
     "postinst misses useradd for daemonuser: " + postinst
   )
   assert(
-    postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup /var/log/debian-test",
-    "postinst misses chown daemonuser /var/log/debian-test: " + postinst
+    postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup '/var/log/debian-test'",
+    "postinst misses chown daemonuser '/var/log/debian-test': " + postinst
   )
   assert(!(postinst contains "addgroup --system daemonuser"), "postinst has addgroup for daemonuser: " + postinst)
   assert(
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ TaskKey[Unit]("checkControlFiles") := {
   assert(!(postinst contains "chown daemonuser:debian-test"), "postinst contains wrong group: \n" + postinst)
   assert(!(postinst contains "chown debian-test:debian-test"), "postinst contains wrong user and group: \n" + postinst)
   assert(
-    !(postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup /usr/share/debian-test"),
+    !(postinst contains "chown daemonuser:daemongroup '/usr/share/debian-test'"),
     "postinst contains chown /usr/share/app_name:  \n" + postinst
   )
   streams.value.log.success("Successfully tested upstart control files")