diff --git a/execute.c b/execute.c
index be06068..3468fa7 100644
--- a/execute.c
+++ b/execute.c
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ verify_ssh_agent() {
 	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);
 
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ start_connection(char *socket_path, Label *route_label, int http_port, const cha
 	}
 
 	argc = 0;
-	argc = append(argv, argc, "ssh", "-fN", "-R", port_forwarding, "-S",
+	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);
@@ -292,12 +292,12 @@ start_connection(char *socket_path, Label *route_label, int http_port, const cha
 		return -1;
 
 	snprintf(tmp_path, sizeof(tmp_path), "mkdir " REMOTE_TMP_PATH, http_port);
-	append(argv, 0, "ssh", "-S", socket_path, host_name, tmp_path, NULL);
+	append(argv, 0, "@ssh@", "-S", socket_path, host_name, tmp_path, NULL);
 	if (run(argv) != 0)
 		return -1;
 
-	snprintf(cmd, PATH_MAX, "tar -cf - %s -C " REPLICATED_DIRECTORY " ./ | "
-	   "exec ssh -q -S %s %s tar -xf - -C " REMOTE_TMP_PATH,
+	snprintf(cmd, PATH_MAX, "@tar@ -cf - %s -C " REPLICATED_DIRECTORY " ./ | "
+	   "exec @ssh@ -q -S %s %s tar -xf - -C " REMOTE_TMP_PATH,
 	    array_to_str(route_label->export_paths), socket_path, host_name,
 	    http_port);
 	if (system(cmd) != 0) {
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ ssh_command_pipe(char *host_name, char *socket_path, Label *host_label, int http
 
 	/* 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);
 	return cmd_pipe_stdin(argv, host_label->content, host_label->content_size);
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ ssh_command_tty(char *host_name, char *socket_path, Label *host_label, int http_
 	    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);
 
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ ssh_command_tty(char *host_name, char *socket_path, Label *host_label, int http_
 
 	/* 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);
 	return run(argv);
@@ -375,11 +375,11 @@ end_connection(char *socket_path, char *host_name, int http_port) {
 		return;
 
 	snprintf(tmp_path, sizeof(tmp_path), REMOTE_TMP_PATH, http_port);
-	append(argv, 0, "ssh", "-S", socket_path, host_name, "rm", "-rf", tmp_path , NULL);
+	append(argv, 0, "@ssh@", "-S", socket_path, host_name, "rm", "-rf", tmp_path , 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
@@ -128,10 +128,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		hostnames[i] = argv[optind+i];
 	hostnames[i] = NULL;
 
-	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)
@@ -159,10 +157,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	/* 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);
@@ -397,7 +394,7 @@ handle_exit(int sig) {
 		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");
 	}
 }
diff --git a/rutils.c b/rutils.c
index 1e182d8..9aef76d 100644
--- a/rutils.c
+++ b/rutils.c
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ install_if_new(const char *src, const char *dst) {
 
 	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);