diff --git a/development/autotests/useSystemFonts.pl b/development/autotests/useSystemFonts.pl
index f0183fa776..c68686b00a 100644
--- a/development/autotests/useSystemFonts.pl
+++ b/development/autotests/useSystemFonts.pl
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ elsif (0) { # set to '1' to enable setting of inputencoding
 my $sourcedir = dirname($source);
 my $destdir = dirname($dest);
 if (! -d $destdir) {
-  diestack("could not make dir \"$destdir\"") if (! mkdir $destdir);
+  diestack("could not make dir \"$destdir\"") if (! mkpath $destdir);
 }
 
 my $destdirOfSubdocuments;