--- a/src/main.in.cc	Tue Nov 19 14:21:38 2013 -0500
+++ b/src/main.in.cc	Tue Nov 19 14:25:32 2013 -0500
@@ -366,14 +366,136 @@
   return obd.empty () ? subst_octave_home (std::string (OCTAVE_BINDIR)) : obd;
 }
 
+#if defined (__WIN32__) && ! defined (__CYGWIN__) // Adapted from libtool wrapper.
+
+/* Prepares an argument vector before calling spawn().
+   Note that spawn() does not by itself call the command interpreter
+     (getenv ("COMSPEC") != NULL ? getenv ("COMSPEC") :
+      ({ OSVERSIONINFO v; v.dwOSVersionInfoSize = sizeof(OSVERSIONINFO);
+         GetVersionEx(&v);
+         v.dwPlatformId == VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT;
+      }) ? "cmd.exe" : "command.com").
+   Instead it simply concatenates the arguments, separated by ' ', and calls
+   CreateProcess().  We must quote the arguments since Win32 CreateProcess()
+   interprets characters like ' ', '\t', '\\', '"' (but not '<' and '>') in a
+   special way:
+   - Space and tab are interpreted as delimiters. They are not treated as
+     delimiters if they are surrounded by double quotes: "...".
+   - Unescaped double quotes are removed from the input. Their only effect is
+     that within double quotes, space and tab are treated like normal
+     characters.
+   - Backslashes not followed by double quotes are not special.
+   - But 2*n+1 backslashes followed by a double quote become
+     n backslashes followed by a double quote (n >= 0):
+       \" -> "
+       \\\" -> \"
+       \\\\\" -> \\"
+ */
+#define SHELL_SPECIAL_CHARS "\"\\ \001\002\003\004\005\006\007\010\011\012\013\014\015\016\017\020\021\022\023\024\025\026\027\030\031\032\033\034\035\036\037"
+#define SHELL_SPACE_CHARS " \001\002\003\004\005\006\007\010\011\012\013\014\015\016\017\020\021\022\023\024\025\026\027\030\031\032\033\034\035\036\037"
+char **
+prepare_spawn (char **argv)
+{
+  size_t argc;
+  char **new_argv;
+  size_t i;
+
+  /* Count number of arguments.  */
+  for (argc = 0; argv[argc] != NULL; argc++)
+    ;
+
+  /* Allocate new argument vector.  */
+  new_argv = new char* [argc + 1];
+
+  /* Put quoted arguments into the new argument vector.  */
+  for (i = 0; i < argc; i++)
+    {
+      const char *string = argv[i];
+
+      if (string[0] == '\0')
+	new_argv[i] = strdup ("\"\"");
+      else if (strpbrk (string, SHELL_SPECIAL_CHARS) != NULL)
+	{
+	  int quote_around = (strpbrk (string, SHELL_SPACE_CHARS) != NULL);
+	  size_t length;
+	  unsigned int backslashes;
+	  const char *s;
+	  char *quoted_string;
+	  char *p;
+
+	  length = 0;
+	  backslashes = 0;
+	  if (quote_around)
+	    length++;
+	  for (s = string; *s != '\0'; s++)
+	    {
+	      char c = *s;
+	      if (c == '"')
+		length += backslashes + 1;
+	      length++;
+	      if (c == '\\')
+		backslashes++;
+	      else
+		backslashes = 0;
+	    }
+	  if (quote_around)
+	    length += backslashes + 1;
+
+	  quoted_string = new char [length + 1];
+
+	  p = quoted_string;
+	  backslashes = 0;
+	  if (quote_around)
+	    *p++ = '"';
+	  for (s = string; *s != '\0'; s++)
+	    {
+	      char c = *s;
+	      if (c == '"')
+		{
+		  unsigned int j;
+		  for (j = backslashes + 1; j > 0; j--)
+		    *p++ = '\\';
+		}
+	      *p++ = c;
+	      if (c == '\\')
+		backslashes++;
+	      else
+		backslashes = 0;
+	    }
+	  if (quote_around)
+	    {
+	      unsigned int j;
+	      for (j = backslashes; j > 0; j--)
+		*p++ = '\\';
+	      *p++ = '"';
+	    }
+	  *p = '\0';
+
+	  new_argv[i] = quoted_string;
+	}
+      else
+	new_argv[i] = (char *) string;
+    }
+  new_argv[argc] = NULL;
+
+  return new_argv;
+}
+
+#endif // __WIN32__ && ! __CYGWIN__
+
 static int
 octave_exec (const std::string& file, char **argv)
 {
+#if defined (__WIN32__) && ! defined (__CYGWIN__)
+  argv = prepare_spawn (argv);
+  return _spawnv (_P_WAIT, file.c_str (), argv);
+#else
   execv (file.c_str (), argv);
 
   std::cerr << "octave: failed to exec '" << file << "'" << std::endl;
 
   return 1;
+#endif
 }
 
 static char *
@@ -411,8 +533,12 @@
 
   char **new_argv = new char * [argc + 1];
 
+#if defined (__WIN32__) && ! defined (__CYGWIN__)
+  int k = 1;
+#else
   int k = 0;
   new_argv[k++] = strsave ("octave");
+#endif
 
   for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++)
     {
@@ -516,6 +642,10 @@
 
 #else
 
+#if defined (__WIN32__) && ! defined (__CYGWIN__)
+  file += ".exe";
+  new_argv[0] = strsave (file.c_str ());
+#endif
   retval = octave_exec (file, new_argv);
 
 #endif