diff --git a/conf/real-from-ideal/proj.yaml b/conf/real-from-ideal/proj.yaml
index 42ff7b0f59301af93452984c0ec2591ca24585cc..eaf50912482ee5beadaf0e91ad9b1d2f163b3041 100644
--- a/conf/real-from-ideal/proj.yaml
+++ b/conf/real-from-ideal/proj.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ spack:
   init: "" # command to load spack environment, e.g. module load spack, use spack/setup-env.sh if empty
   url: https://github.com/spack/spack.git # url to download spack if necessary
   branch: develop # if downloaded, branch name to use
-  compiler: gcc@12.2.0 # desired compiler for spack
+  compiler: "gcc@12.2.0" # desired compiler for spack
   root: "%HPCROOTDIR%/spack" # path to a spack install, will be downloaded to if not present
   user_cache_path: "%HPCROOTDIR%/spack_user_cache_path" # spack puts data here when bootstrapping, leave empty to use home folder
   disable_local_config: true # if false, spack install into home folder
diff --git a/templates/common/build_icon.sh b/templates/common/build_icon.sh
index e0389ce7d604b09b5de9bac921cdaee4cbf7dc92..2e539842cd417985dc69d84163175dcab5f63098 100644
--- a/templates/common/build_icon.sh
+++ b/templates/common/build_icon.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ if [ ! -z "$SPACK_BUILD_ICON" ]; then
   spack install $SPACK_BUILD_ICON
   spack load $SPACK_BUILD_ICON
 else
-  echo "%icon.spack_cmd% is not defined. If you want to compile icon with spack, please provide a spack compile instruction string in your proj.yaml"
+  echo "icon.spack_cmd is not defined. If you want to compile icon with spack, please provide a spack compile instruction string in your proj.yaml"
 fi
 
 # Need to get ECCODES DWD definitions: