diff --git a/configure.php b/configure.php
index 028604ada9..297a69e071 100755
--- a/configure.php
+++ b/configure.php
@@ -587,12 +587,12 @@ function find_xml_files($path) // {{{
 foreach ( $repos as $name => $path )
 {
     $path = escapeshellarg( $path );
-    $branch = trim( `git -C $path rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD` );
+    $branch = trim(shell_exec("git -C $path rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD"));
     $suffix = $branch == "master" ? "" : " (branch $branch)";
     $output .= str_pad( "$name:" , 10 );
-    $output .= rtrim( `git -C $path rev-parse HEAD`  ?? "" ) . "$suffix ";
-    $output .= rtrim( `git -C $path for-each-ref --format="%(push:track)" refs/heads/$branch` ?? "" ) . "\n";
-    $output .= rtrim( `git -C $path status -s` ?? "" ) . "\n";
+    $output .= rtrim(shell_exec("git -C $path rev-parse HEAD") ?? "") . "$suffix ";
+    $output .= rtrim(shell_exec("git -C $path for-each-ref --format=\"%(push:track)\" refs/heads/$branch") ?? "") . "\n";
+    $output .= rtrim(shell_exec("git -C $path status -s") ?? "") . "\n";
 }
 while( str_contains( $output , "\n\n" ) )
     $output = str_replace( "\n\n" , "\n" , $output );