diff --git a/setupbase.py b/setupbase.py
index 44a02aa2..34dcda4e 100644
--- a/setupbase.py
+++ b/setupbase.py
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 import io
 import os
 import functools
-import pipes
 import re
 import shlex
 import subprocess
@@ -43,7 +42,7 @@
     from subprocess import list2cmdline
 else:
     def list2cmdline(cmd_list):
-        return ' '.join(map(pipes.quote, cmd_list))
+        return ' '.join(map(shlex.quote, cmd_list))
 
 
 __version__ = '0.2.0'