diff --git a/execute.c b/execute.c
index be06068..3468fa7 100644
--- a/execute.c
+++ b/execute.c
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@
 	char *output;
 	char *argv[32];

-	append(argv, 0, "ssh-add", "-l", NULL);
+	append(argv, 0, "@ssh-add@", "-l", NULL);
 	output = cmd_pipe_stdout(argv, &error_code, &output_size);
 	free(output);

@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@
 	}

 	argc = 0;
-	argc = append(argv, argc, "ssh", "-fN", "-R", port_forwarding, "-S", socket_path, "-M", NULL);
+	argc = append(argv, argc, "@ssh@", "-fN", "-R", port_forwarding, "-S", socket_path, "-M", NULL);
 	if (ssh_config)
 		(void) append(argv, argc, "-F", ssh_config, host_name, NULL);
 	else
@@ -309,8 +309,8 @@
 		return ret;

 	snprintf(cmd, PATH_MAX,
-	    "tar " TAR_OPTIONS " -cf - -C " REPLICATED_DIRECTORY " . "
-	    "| ssh -q -S %s %s 'mkdir %s; tar -xf - -C %s'",
+	    "@tar@ " TAR_OPTIONS " -cf - -C " REPLICATED_DIRECTORY " . "
+	    "| @ssh@ -q -S %s %s 'mkdir %s; tar -xf - -C %s'",
 	    socket_path, host_name, stagedir(http_port), stagedir(http_port));
 	if ((ret = system(cmd)) != 0)
 		return ret;
@@ -320,8 +320,8 @@
 		array_to_str(route_label->export_paths, path_repr, sizeof(path_repr), " ");

 		snprintf(cmd, PATH_MAX,
-		    "tar " TAR_OPTIONS " -cf - %s "
-		    "| ssh -q -S %s %s 'tar -xf - -C %s'",
+		    "@tar@ " TAR_OPTIONS " -cf - %s "
+		    "| @ssh@ -q -S %s %s 'tar -xf - -C %s'",
 		    path_repr, socket_path, host_name, stagedir(http_port));

 		if ((ret = system(cmd)) != 0)
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@

 	/* construct ssh command */
 	argc = 0;
-	argc = append(argv, argc, "ssh", "-T", "-S", socket_path, NULL);
+	argc = append(argv, argc, "@ssh@", "-T", "-S", socket_path, NULL);

 	(void) append(argv, argc, host_name, cmd, NULL);
 	ret = cmd_pipe_stdin(argv, host_label->content, host_label->content_size);
@@ -432,7 +432,7 @@
 	snprintf(cmd, sizeof(cmd), "cat > %s/_script", stagedir(http_port));
 	/* construct ssh command */
 	argc = 0;
-	argc = append(argv, argc, "ssh", "-T", "-S", socket_path, NULL);
+	argc = append(argv, argc, "@ssh@", "-T", "-S", socket_path, NULL);
 	(void) append(argv, argc, host_name, cmd, NULL);
 	cmd_pipe_stdin(argv, host_label->content, host_label->content_size);

@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@

 	/* construct ssh command */
 	argc = 0;
-	argc = append(argv, argc, "ssh", "-t", "-S", socket_path, NULL);
+	argc = append(argv, argc, "@ssh@", "-t", "-S", socket_path, NULL);

 	(void) append(argv, argc, host_name, cmd, NULL);
 	ret = run(argv);
@@ -498,11 +498,11 @@
 	if (access(socket_path, F_OK) == -1)
 		return;

-	append(argv, 0, "ssh", "-S", socket_path, host_name, "rm", "-rf", stagedir(http_port), NULL);
+	append(argv, 0, "@ssh@", "-S", socket_path, host_name, "rm", "-rf", stagedir(http_port), NULL);
 	if (run(argv) != 0)
 		warn("remote tmp dir");

-	append(argv, 0, "ssh", "-q", "-S", socket_path, "-O", "exit", host_name, NULL);
+	append(argv, 0, "@ssh@", "-q", "-S", socket_path, "-O", "exit", host_name, NULL);
 	if (run(argv) != 0)
 		warn("exec ssh -O exit");
 }
diff --git a/rset.c b/rset.c
index 383fc82..9c20f65 100644
--- a/rset.c
+++ b/rset.c
@@ -104,10 +104,8 @@

 	if ((renv_bin = findprog("renv")) == 0)
 		not_found("renv");
-	if ((rinstall_bin = findprog("rinstall")) == 0)
-		not_found("rinstall");
-	if ((rsub_bin = findprog("rsub")) == 0)
-		not_found("rsub");
+	rinstall_bin = "@rinstall@";
+	rsub_bin = "@rsub@";

 	/* all operations must be relative to the routes file */
 	if (realpath(xdirname(routes_file), routes_realpath) == NULL)
@@ -404,7 +402,7 @@
 	if (socket_path && hostname && http_port) {
 		printf("caught signal %d, terminating connection to '%s'\n", sig, hostname);
 		/* clean up socket and SSH connection; leaving staging dir */
-		execlp("ssh", "ssh", "-S", socket_path, "-O", "exit", hostname, NULL);
+		execlp("@ssh@", "@ssh@", "-S", socket_path, "-O", "exit", hostname, NULL);
 		err(1, "ssh -O exit");
 	}
 }
@@ -533,10 +531,9 @@

 	/* Convert http server command line into a vector */
 	inputstring = malloc(PATH_MAX);
-	snprintf(inputstring, PATH_MAX, "miniquark -p %d -d " PUBLIC_DIRECTORY, http_port);
+	snprintf(inputstring, PATH_MAX, "@miniquark@ -p %d -d " PUBLIC_DIRECTORY, http_port);
 	str_to_array(http_srv_argv, inputstring, sizeof(http_srv_argv), " ");
-	if ((httpd_bin = findprog(http_srv_argv[0])) == 0)
-		not_found(http_srv_argv[0]);
+	httpd_bin = "@miniquark@";

 	/* start the web server */
 	pipe(stdout_pipe);
diff --git a/rutils.c b/rutils.c
index 1e182d8..9aef76d 100644
--- a/rutils.c
+++ b/rutils.c
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@

 	pid = fork();
 	if (pid == 0) {
-		if (execl("/usr/bin/install", "/usr/bin/install", src, dst, NULL) != -1)
+		if (execl("@install@", "@install@", src, dst, NULL) != -1)
 			err(1, "%s", dst);
 	}
 	waitpid(pid, &status, 0);