diff --git a/sci-visualization/gnuplot/gnuplot-4.6.5.ebuild b/sci-visualization/gnuplot/gnuplot-4.6.5.ebuild
index ee4f6f8a2a6c5..b5f2965c11042 100644
--- a/sci-visualization/gnuplot/gnuplot-4.6.5.ebuild
+++ b/sci-visualization/gnuplot/gnuplot-4.6.5.ebuild
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ src_configure() {
 
 src_compile() {
 	# Prevent access violations, see bug 201871
-	VARTEXFONTS="${T}/fonts"
+	export VARTEXFONTS="${T}/fonts"
 
 	# We believe that the following line is no longer needed.
 	# In case of problems file a bug report at bugs.gentoo.org.
diff --git a/sci-visualization/gnuplot/gnuplot-5.0.1-r1.ebuild b/sci-visualization/gnuplot/gnuplot-5.0.1-r1.ebuild
index e7fe94b9af933..ad5b62d0097e2 100644
--- a/sci-visualization/gnuplot/gnuplot-5.0.1-r1.ebuild
+++ b/sci-visualization/gnuplot/gnuplot-5.0.1-r1.ebuild
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ src_configure() {
 
 src_compile() {
 	# Prevent access violations, see bug 201871
-	VARTEXFONTS="${T}/fonts"
+	export VARTEXFONTS="${T}/fonts"
 
 	# We believe that the following line is no longer needed.
 	# In case of problems file a bug report at bugs.gentoo.org.