diff --git a/.github/workflows/cygwin.yml b/.github/workflows/cygwin.yml
index 8f0333e..2ec845f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cygwin.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cygwin.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ jobs:
           git config --global core.eol lf
         shell: powershell
 
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Set up Cygwin
         uses: egor-tensin/setup-cygwin@v3
diff --git a/.github/workflows/linux.yml b/.github/workflows/linux.yml
index 96ab246..10c27f4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/linux.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/linux.yml
@@ -17,7 +17,11 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         cip_tag:
-          - "5.33"
+          - "5.41"
+          - "5.40"
+          - "5.38"
+          - "5.36"
+          - "5.34"
           - "5.32"
           - "5.30"
           - "5.28"
@@ -36,7 +40,7 @@ jobs:
       CIP_TAG: ${{ matrix.cip_tag }}
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Bootstrap CIP
         run: |
@@ -49,7 +53,7 @@ jobs:
           cip cache-key
 
       - name: Cache CPAN modules
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
         with:
           path: ~/.cip
           key: ${{ runner.os }}-build-${{ steps.cache-key.outputs.key }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/macos.yml b/.github/workflows/macos.yml
index e96d1ec..49eff36 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/macos.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/macos.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: macOS-latest
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Set up Perl
         run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/msys2-mingw.yml b/.github/workflows/msys2-mingw.yml
index 7fa6f17..5b97827 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/msys2-mingw.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/msys2-mingw.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ jobs:
           git config --global core.eol lf
         shell: powershell
 
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Set up Perl
         uses: msys2/setup-msys2@v2
diff --git a/.github/workflows/windows.yml b/.github/workflows/windows.yml
index 503f04a..ed9602a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/windows.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/windows.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: windows-latest
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Set up Perl
         run: |
diff --git a/MANIFEST b/MANIFEST
index bf14ff9..d93dc5f 100644
--- a/MANIFEST
+++ b/MANIFEST
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-.appveyor.yml
-.travis.yml
 .yath.rc
 Changes
 gen_multi_tests.pl
diff --git a/MANIFEST.SKIP b/MANIFEST.SKIP
index 516c845..a762bc0 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.SKIP
+++ b/MANIFEST.SKIP
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@
 ^blib/
 ^pm_to_blib$
 \.swp$
+^\.github
diff --git a/lib/PkgConfig.pm b/lib/PkgConfig.pm
index 7220b6d..cded3df 100755
--- a/lib/PkgConfig.pm
+++ b/lib/PkgConfig.pm
@@ -7,16 +7,6 @@
 # You may use and distribute this software under the same terms and conditions
 # as Perl itself.
 
-package
-    PkgConfig::Vars;
-# this is a namespace for .pc files to hold their variables without
-# relying on lexical scope.
-
-package
-    PkgConfig::UDefs;
-# This namespace provides user-defined variables which are to override any
-# declarations within the .pc file itself.
-
 package PkgConfig;
 
 #First two digits are Perl version, second two are pkg-config version
@@ -59,8 +49,6 @@ BEGIN {
     }
 }
 
-our $VarClassSerial = 0;
-
 ################################################################################
 ### Sane Defaults                                                            ###
 ################################################################################
@@ -475,9 +463,6 @@ struct(
      'pkg_description' => '$',
      'errmsg'   => '$',
 
-     # classes used for storing persistent data
-     'varclass' => '$',
-     'udefclass' => '$',
      'filevars' => '*%',
      'uservars' => '*%',
 
@@ -499,64 +484,41 @@ struct(
 ################################################################################
 ################################################################################
 
-sub _get_pc_varname {
-    my ($self,$vname_base) = @_;
-    $self->varclass . "::" . $vname_base;
-}
-
-sub _get_pc_udefname {
-    my ($self,$vname_base) = @_;
-    $self->udefclass . "::" . $vname_base;
-}
-
-sub _pc_var {
-    my ($self,$vname) = @_;
-    $vname =~ s,\.,DOT,g;
-    no strict 'refs';
-    $vname = $self->_get_pc_varname($vname);
-    no warnings qw(once);
-    my $glob = *{$vname};
-    $glob ? $$glob : ();
-}
-
-sub _quote_cvt($)  {
-    join ' ', map { s/(\s|"|')/\\$1/g; $_ } shellwords(shift)
-}
-
 sub assign_var {
-    my ($self,$field,$value) = @_;
-    no strict 'refs';
-
+    my ($self,$field,$value,$force) = @_;
     # if the user has provided a definition, use that.
-    if(exists ${$self->udefclass."::"}{$field}) {
+    if (!$force && exists $self->uservars->{$field}) {
         log_debug("Prefix already defined by user");
         return;
     }
-    my $evalstr = sprintf('$%s = PkgConfig::_quote_cvt(%s)',
-                    $self->_get_pc_varname($field), $value);
-
-    log_debug("EVAL", $evalstr);
-    do {
-        no warnings 'uninitialized';
-        eval $evalstr;
-    };
-    if($@) {
-        log_err($@);
+    my $filevars = $self->filevars;
+    if ($field =~ /(dir|prefix)$/ && $value !~ /\$/) {
+      # heuristic - it's a directory
+      $filevars->{$field} = [grep length, $value];
+      return;
+    }
+    my (@inwords, @outwords) = shellwords $value; # FIRST split it
+    for my $inword (@inwords) {                   # THEN sub
+      my ($word, $outword) = ($inword, '');
+      while ($word =~ s/(^|.*?[^\$])\$\{([a-z_.]+)\}//s) {
+        my ($start, $var) = ($1, $2);
+        $outword .= $start;
+        my $val = $filevars->{$var};
+        next if !defined($val) or !grep length, @$val;
+        $outword .= "@$val";
+      }
+      $outword .= $word; # what's left
+      next if !length $outword;
+      $outword =~ s/\$\$/\$/g; # pkg-config escapes a '$' with a '$$'
+      push @outwords, $outword;
     }
+    $filevars->{$field} = \@outwords;
 }
 
 sub prepare_vars {
     my $self = shift;
-    my $varclass = $self->varclass;
-    no strict 'refs';
-
-    %{$varclass . "::"} = ();
-
-    while (my ($name,$glob) = each %{$self->udefclass."::"}) {
-        my $ref = *$glob{SCALAR};
-        next unless defined $ref;
-        ${"$varclass\::$name"} = $$ref;
-    }
+    my $uv = $self->uservars;
+    $self->assign_var($_, $uv->{$_}, 1) for keys %$uv;
 }
 
 ################################################################################
@@ -587,20 +549,10 @@ sub find {
         #print "$basekey: " . Dumper($list);
     }
 
-    $VarClassSerial++;
-    $options{varclass} = sprintf("PkgConfig::Vars::SERIAL_%d", $VarClassSerial);
-    $options{udefclass} = sprintf("PkgConfig::UDefs::SERIAL_%d", $VarClassSerial);
+    $options{filevars} = {};
+    $options{uservars} = {$options{VARS} ? %{ delete $options{VARS} } : ()};
     $options{original} = \%original;
 
-
-    my $udefs = delete $options{VARS} || {};
-
-    while (my ($k,$v) = each %$udefs) {
-        no strict 'refs';
-        my $vname = join('::', $options{udefclass}, $k);
-        ${$vname} = $v;
-    }
-
     my $o = $cls->new(%options);
 
     my @libraries;
@@ -649,8 +601,7 @@ sub find {
 ################################################################################
 ################################################################################
 sub append_ldflags {
-    my ($self,@flags) = @_;
-    my @ld_flags = _split_flags(@flags);
+    my ($self,@ld_flags) = @_;
 
     foreach my $ldflag (@ld_flags) {
         next unless $ldflag =~ /^-Wl/;
@@ -677,7 +628,7 @@ sub append_ldflags {
 # notify us about extra compiler flags
 sub append_cflags {
     my ($self,@flags) = @_;
-    push @{$self->cflags}, _split_flags(@flags);
+    push @{$self->cflags}, @flags;
 }
 
 
@@ -724,10 +675,8 @@ sub get_requires {
     @ret;
 }
 
-
 sub parse_line {
-    my ($self,$line,$evals) = @_;
-    no strict 'vars';
+    my ($self,$line) = @_;
 
     $line =~ s/#[^#]+$//g; # strip comments
     return unless $line;
@@ -751,37 +700,20 @@ sub parse_line {
 
     $field = lc($field);
 
-    #perl variables can't have '.' in them:
-    $field =~ s/\./DOT/g;
+    my $filevars = $self->filevars;
+    if ($tok eq ':' and $field !~ /^(cflags|libs)/) {
+      $value =~ s/(^|[^\$])\$\{([a-z_.]+)\}/$1$filevars->{$2}[0]/g;
+      $filevars->{$field} = [grep length, $value]; # no need quoting
+      return;
+    }
 
     #remove quotes from field names
     $field =~ s/['"]//g;
 
-
-    # pkg-config escapes a '$' with a '$$'. This won't go in perl:
-    $value =~ s/[^\\]\$\$/\\\$/g;
-    $value =~ s/([@%&])/\$1/g;
-
-
-    # append our pseudo-package for persistence.
-    my $varclass = $self->varclass;
     $value =~ s/(\$\{[^}]+\})/lc($1)/ge;
 
-    $value =~ s/\$\{/\$\{$varclass\::/g;
-
-    # preserve quoted space
-    $value = join ' ', map { s/(["'])/\\$1/g; "'$_'" } shellwords $value
-      if $value =~ /[\\"']/;
-
-    #quote the value string, unless quoted already
-    $value = "\"$value\"";
-
     #get existent variables from our hash:
-
-
-    #$value =~ s/'/"/g; #allow for interpolation
     $self->assign_var($field, $value);
-
 }
 
 sub parse_pcfile {
@@ -798,33 +730,31 @@ sub parse_pcfile {
     $text =~ s,\\[\r\n],,g;
     @lines = split(/[\r\n]/, $text);
 
-    my @eval_strings;
-
     #Fold lines:
 
     my $pcfiledir = dirname $pcfile;
     $pcfiledir =~ s{\\}{/}g;
 
     foreach my $line ("pcfiledir=$pcfiledir", @lines) {
-        $self->parse_line($line, \@eval_strings);
+        $self->parse_line($line);
     }
 
     #now that we have eval strings, evaluate them all within the same
     #lexical scope:
 
 
-    $self->append_cflags(  $self->_pc_var('cflags') );
+    $self->append_cflags(  $self->get_var('cflags') );
     if($self->static) {
-        $self->append_cflags( $self->_pc_var('cflags.private') );
+        $self->append_cflags( $self->get_var('cflags.private') );
     }
-    $self->append_ldflags( $self->_pc_var('libs') );
+    $self->append_ldflags( $self->get_var('libs') );
     if($self->static) {
-        $self->append_ldflags( $self->_pc_var('libs.private') );
+        $self->append_ldflags( $self->get_var('libs.private') );
     }
 
     my @deps;
-    my @deps_dynamic = $self->get_requires( $self->_pc_var('requires'));
-    my @deps_static = $self->get_requires( $self->_pc_var('requires.private') );
+    my @deps_dynamic = $self->get_requires( $self->get_var('requires'));
+    my @deps_static = $self->get_requires( $self->get_var('requires.private') );
     @deps = @deps_dynamic;
 
 
@@ -833,9 +763,9 @@ sub parse_pcfile {
     }
 
     if($self->recursion == 1 && (!$self->pkg_exists())) {
-        $self->pkg_version( $self->_pc_var('version') );
-        $self->pkg_url( $self->_pc_var('url') );
-        $self->pkg_description( $self->_pc_var('description') );
+        $self->pkg_version( $self->get_var('version') );
+        $self->pkg_url( $self->get_var('url') );
+        $self->pkg_description( $self->get_var('description') );
         $self->pkg_exists(1);
     }
 
@@ -897,8 +827,15 @@ sub find_pcfile {
 ################################################################################
 ################################################################################
 
-sub _return_context (@) {
-    wantarray ? (@_) : join(' ', map { s/(\s|['"])/\\$1/g; $_ } @_)
+sub _quote_protect {
+  my ($v) = @_;
+  return qq{""} if !length($v); # empty strings get preserved
+  return $v if $v !~ /['"\s\\]/;
+  $v =~ s/["\\]/\\$&/g; # the "" will already protect from ' and space
+  $v =~ /['\s]/ ? qq{"$v"} : $v;
+}
+sub _return_context {
+  wantarray ? @_ : join ' ', map _quote_protect($_), @_;
 }
 
 sub get_cflags {
@@ -932,7 +869,7 @@ sub get_ldflags {
 
 sub get_var {
     my($self, $name) = @_;
-    $self->_pc_var($name);
+    _return_context @{ $self->filevars->{$name} };
 }
 
 sub get_list {
@@ -945,7 +882,7 @@ sub get_list {
         for my $pc (bsd_glob("$d/*.pc")) {
             if ($pc =~ m|/([^\\\/]+)\.pc$|) {
                 $self->parse_pcfile($pc);
-                push @rv, [$1, $self->_pc_var('name') . ' - ' . $self->_pc_var('description')];
+                push @rv, [$1, $self->get_var('name') . ' - ' . $self->get_var('description')];
             }
         }
     }
@@ -968,7 +905,6 @@ sub _split_flags {
     if(@flags == 1) {
         my $str = shift @flags;
         return () if !$str;
-        #@flags = map { s/\\(\s)/$1/g; $_ } split(/(?<!\\)\s+/, $str);
         @flags = shellwords $str;
     }
     @flags = grep $_, @flags;
@@ -981,7 +917,6 @@ sub filter_dups {
     my $array = shift;
     my @ret;
     my %seen_hash;
-    #@$array = reverse @$array;
     foreach my $elem (@$array) {
         if(exists $seen_hash{$elem}) {
             next;
@@ -1270,7 +1205,7 @@ if($o->print_variables) {
 }
 
 if($OutputVariableValue) {
-    my $val = ($o->_pc_var($OutputVariableValue) or "");
+    my $val = $o->get_var($OutputVariableValue) || "";
     print $val . "\n";
 }
 
diff --git a/t/01-script_detailed.t b/t/01-script_detailed.t
index db7f4c5..d37d4c7 100644
--- a/t/01-script_detailed.t
+++ b/t/01-script_detailed.t
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-#!perl
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Test::More;
@@ -8,15 +7,39 @@ use PkgConfigTest;
 
 run_common("glib-2.0"); ok($RV == 0, "package name exists");
 
-run_common("--exists glib-2.0"); ok($RV == 0, "package name (--exists)");
+run_common(qw(--exists glib-2.0)); ok($RV == 0, "package name (--exists)");
 
-run_common("--libs glib-2.0"); like($S, qr/-lglib-2\.0/, "Got expected libs");
+run_common(qw(--libs glib-2.0)); like($S, qr/-lglib-2\.0/, "Got expected libs");
 ok($S !~ /-L/, "No -L directive for standard search path");
 
-
-
-run_common("--cflags glib-2.0");
+run_common(qw(--cflags glib-2.0));
 expect_flags("-I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include",
              "Got expected include flags");
 
+if (eval { symlink("",""); 1 }) {
+  # symlink to simulate place-with-space
+  require File::Temp;
+  require File::Spec;
+  require Text::ParseWords;
+  my $dir = File::Temp::tempdir( CLEANUP => 1 );
+  my $sub = File::Spec->catdir($dir, 'in space');
+  my $exp_stub = "-I".File::Spec->rel2abs($sub)."/../../include";
+  $exp_stub =~ s|\\|/|g; # standard behaviour of this module
+  symlink File::Spec->rel2abs(File::Spec->catdir(qw(t data strawberry c lib pkgconfig))), $sub;
+  local $ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} = $sub;
+  require PkgConfig; # after the environment variable is set
+  for (['freetype2','/freetype2'], ['gsl',''], ['libxml-2.0','/libxml2'], ['libexslt',['','/libxml2']]) {
+    my ($lib, $suffix) = @$_;
+    run_common(qw(--cflags), $lib);
+    chomp(my $out = $PkgConfigTest::S);
+    like $out, qr/^"/, "$lib cflags should be quote-protected to survive make";
+    ($out) = Text::ParseWords::shellwords($out);
+    is $out, $exp_stub.(ref $suffix ? $suffix->[0] : $suffix), "$lib survived being in space";
+    my $pkg = PkgConfig->find($lib);
+    my $arr = [$pkg->get_cflags];
+    my $exp = ref $suffix ? [map "$exp_stub$_", @$suffix] : ["$exp_stub$suffix"];
+    is_deeply $arr, $exp, "$lib get_cflags" or diag explain [$arr,$exp];
+  }
+}
+
 done_testing();
diff --git a/t/PkgConfigTest.pm b/t/PkgConfigTest.pm
index 91e24b2..4f31c83 100644
--- a/t/PkgConfigTest.pm
+++ b/t/PkgConfigTest.pm
@@ -47,11 +47,11 @@ $SCRIPT = $FindBin::Bin . "/../lib/PkgConfig.pm"
 
 sub run_common {
     my @args = @_;
-    my $pkg_config = join ' ',
-                     map { /\s/ ? "\"$_\"" : $_ }
-                     ($^X, $SCRIPT);
-    (my $ret = qx($pkg_config --env-only @args))
-        =~ s/(?:^\s+)|($?:\s+$)//g;
+    unshift @args, $^X, $SCRIPT, '--env-only';
+    open my $fh, "-|", @args or die "open @args: $!";
+    local $/;
+    (my $ret = <$fh>) =~ s/(?:^\s+)|($?:\s+$)//g;
+    close $fh;
     $RV = $?;
     $S = $ret;
 }
@@ -67,8 +67,8 @@ sub run_exists_test {
     foreach my $fname (@$flist) {
         next unless -f $fname;
         my ($base) = fileparse($fname, ".pc");
-        run_common("$base");
-        ok($RV == 0, "Package $base exists");
+        run_common($base);
+        is $RV, 0, "Package $base exists";
     }
 }
 
@@ -76,8 +76,8 @@ sub _single_flags_test {
     my $fname = shift;
     return unless -f $fname;
     my ($base) = fileparse($fname, ".pc");
-    run_common("--libs --cflags $base --define-variable=prefix=blah");
-    ok($RV == 0, "Got OK for --libs and --cflags");
+    run_common(qw(--libs --cflags), $base, qw(--define-variable=prefix=blah));
+    is $RV, 0, "Got OK for '$fname' --libs and --cflags";
     if($S =~ /-(?:L|I)/) {
         if($S !~ /blah/) {
             
@@ -97,13 +97,13 @@ sub _single_flags_test {
             
             my @lines = <$fh>;
             if(grep /\$\{prefix\}/, @lines) {
-                ok(0, "Expected substituted prefix for $base");
+                fail "Expected substituted prefix for $base";
             } else {
                 note "File $fname has no \${prefix} directive";
             }
             return;
         }
-        ok($S =~ /blah/, "Found modified prefix for $base");
+        like $S, qr/blah/, "Found modified prefix for $base";
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/t/pcfiledir.t b/t/pcfiledir.t
index 9ffec18..2acc35a 100644
--- a/t/pcfiledir.t
+++ b/t/pcfiledir.t
@@ -16,5 +16,5 @@ is $pkg->errmsg, undef, 'no error';
 
 isa_ok $pkg, 'PkgConfig';
 
-my $prefix = $pkg->get_var('prefix');
+my ($prefix) = $pkg->get_var('prefix'); # list in case in place with space!
 is $prefix, "$ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH}/../..", "prefix=$prefix";
diff --git a/t/quote.t b/t/quote.t
index 6f1a029..331f10b 100644
--- a/t/quote.t
+++ b/t/quote.t
@@ -5,21 +5,21 @@ use FindBin ();
 use File::Spec;
 use Test::More tests => 6;
 
-my $path = File::Spec->catfile($FindBin::Bin, 'data', 'quote');
+my $path = File::Spec->catdir($FindBin::Bin, 'data', 'quote');
 
 foreach my $type (qw( doublequote singlequote backslash quotevar ))
 {
   subtest $type => sub {
 
     my $pkg = PkgConfig->find($type,
-      search_path => [File::Spec->catfile($FindBin::Bin, 'data', 'quote')],
+      search_path => [File::Spec->catdir($FindBin::Bin, 'data', 'quote')],
     );
 
     isa_ok $pkg, 'PkgConfig';
     is $pkg->errmsg, undef, 'no error';
 
-    is_deeply [$pkg->get_cflags], ['-I/foo/include', '-DFOO=bar baz'], 'list context';
-    is scalar $pkg->get_cflags, '-I/foo/include -DFOO=bar\\ baz', 'scalar context';
+    is_deeply [$pkg->get_cflags], ['-I/foo/include', '-DFOO=bar baz'], "$type list context";
+    is scalar $pkg->get_cflags, '-I/foo/include "-DFOO=bar baz"', "$type scalar context";
     #note $_ for $pkg->get_cflags;
     done_testing;
   };
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ foreach my $type (qw( doublequote singlequote backslash quotevar ))
 
 subtest 'noquote' => sub {
   my $pkg = PkgConfig->find('noquote',
-    search_path => [File::Spec->catfile($FindBin::Bin, 'data', 'quote')],
+    search_path => [File::Spec->catdir($FindBin::Bin, 'data', 'quote')],
   );
 
   isa_ok $pkg, 'PkgConfig';
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ subtest 'noquote' => sub {
 
 subtest 'escape' => sub {
   my $pkg = PkgConfig->find('escape',
-    search_path => [File::Spec->catfile($FindBin::Bin, 'data', 'quote')],
+    search_path => [File::Spec->catdir($FindBin::Bin, 'data', 'quote')],
   );
 
   isa_ok $pkg, 'PkgConfig';
diff --git a/t/strawberry.t b/t/strawberry.t
index ac597f1..ecc1a01 100644
--- a/t/strawberry.t
+++ b/t/strawberry.t
@@ -124,8 +124,8 @@ subtest 'pcfiles included' => sub {
           note $dir;
         }
       }
-
-      ok $ok1, "good directory included";
+      $dir ||= '';
+      ok $ok1, "good directory included, found '$dir'";
 
     };
   }