diff --git a/bootstrap b/bootstrap
index 071ee2b..6bf0833 100755
--- a/bootstrap
+++ b/bootstrap
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@ automake --gnu --add-missing --copy
 # current source snapshots (working from GIT, or some source snapshot, etc)
 # otherwise the documentation will fail to build due to missing version.texi
 
-if [ -n $1 ] || [ $1 != nosubmodule ]
+if [ -z $1 ] || [ $1 == nosubmodule ]
 then
+    echo "Skipping submodule setup"
+else
     echo "Setting up submodules"
     git submodule init
     git submodule update
-else
-    echo "Skipping submodule setup"
 fi
 
 echo "Bootstrap complete. Quick start build instructions:"