diff --git a/config_subdir.m4 b/config_subdir.m4
index 45a1c6c4f..2be590e44 100644
--- a/config_subdir.m4
+++ b/config_subdir.m4
@@ -7,6 +7,6 @@ AC_DEFUN([AX_CONFIG_SUBDIR_OPTION],
 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([$1])
 
 m4_ifblank([$2], [rm -f $srcdir/$1/configure.gnu],
-[echo -e '#!/bin/sh\nexec "`dirname "'\$'0"`/configure" $2 "'\$'@"' > "$srcdir/$1/configure.gnu"
+[echo -e '#!/bin/sh\nexec "`dirname "'\$'0"`/configure" '"$2"' "'\$'@"' > "$srcdir/$1/configure.gnu"
 ])
 ])
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 68fff45c1..15d7229a4 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -354,6 +354,10 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE([internal-jimtcl],
   AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-internal-jimtcl], [Disable building internal jimtcl]),
   [use_internal_jimtcl=$enableval], [use_internal_jimtcl=yes])
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([jimtcl-maintainer],
+  AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-jimtcl-maintainer], [Enable maintainer mode when building internal jimtcl]),
+  [use_internal_jimtcl_maintainer=$enableval], [use_internal_jimtcl_maintainer=no])
+
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([internal-libjaylink],
   AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-internal-libjaylink],
   [Disable building internal libjaylink]),
@@ -550,7 +554,12 @@ AS_IF([test "x$enable_buspirate" != "xno"], [
 
 AS_IF([test "x$use_internal_jimtcl" = "xyes"], [
   AS_IF([test -f "$srcdir/jimtcl/configure.ac"], [
-    AX_CONFIG_SUBDIR_OPTION([jimtcl], [--disable-install-jim])
+    AS_IF([test "x$use_internal_jimtcl_maintainer" = "xyes"], [
+      jimtcl_config_options="--disable-install-jim --maintainer"
+    ], [
+      jimtcl_config_options="--disable-install-jim"
+    ])
+    AX_CONFIG_SUBDIR_OPTION([jimtcl], [$jimtcl_config_options])
   ], [
     AC_MSG_ERROR([jimtcl not found, run git submodule init and git submodule update.])
   ])