diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 93e309895..102ca8a3f 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1122,6 +1122,9 @@ AS_CASE([$enable_maintainer_flags],
 AC_SUBST(MAINTAINER_CFLAGS)
 
 dnl === Dependencies, compiler flags and linker libraries =====================
+# strip leading space
+BACKEND_PC_FILES=${BACKEND_PC_FILES/# }
+
 CLUTTER_REQUIRES="$CLUTTER_BASE_PC_FILES $IMAGE_PC_FILES $BACKEND_PC_FILES"
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES(CLUTTER_DEPS, [$CLUTTER_REQUIRES])
 AC_SUBST(CLUTTER_REQUIRES)