diff --git a/openvpn.spec b/openvpn.spec
index dbcac33..bc5e342 100644
--- a/openvpn.spec
+++ b/openvpn.spec
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ This package provides the header file to build external plugins.
 %patch8 -p1
 %patch9 -p1
 
-sed -e "s|\" __DATE__|$(date '+%{b} %{e} %{Y}' -r version.m4)\"|g" \
+sed -e "s|\" __DATE__|$(date '+%%b %%e %%Y' -r version.m4)\"|g" \
     -i src/openvpn/options.c
 sed -e "s|@PLUGIN_LIBDIR@|%{_libdir}/openvpn/plugins|g" \
     -e "s|@PLUGIN_DOCDIR@|%{_defaultdocdir}/%{name}|g" \