diff --git a/syncoid b/syncoid
index 30aef49..257e652 100755
--- a/syncoid
+++ b/syncoid
@@ -48,17 +48,20 @@ my $debug = $args{'debug'};
 my $quiet = $args{'quiet'};
 my $resume = !$args{'no-resume'};
 
-my $zfscmd = '/sbin/zfs';
-my $sshcmd = '/usr/bin/ssh';
-my $pscmd = '/bin/ps';
+# for compatibility reasons, older versions used hardcoded command paths
+$ENV{'PATH'} = $ENV{'PATH'} . ":/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin";
 
-my $pvcmd = '/usr/bin/pv';
-my $mbuffercmd = '/usr/bin/mbuffer';
-my $sudocmd = '/usr/bin/sudo';
+my $zfscmd = 'zfs';
+my $sshcmd = 'ssh';
+my $pscmd = 'ps';
+
+my $pvcmd = 'pv';
+my $mbuffercmd = 'mbuffer';
+my $sudocmd = 'sudo';
 my $mbufferoptions = '-q -s 128k -m 16M 2>/dev/null';
-# currently using ls to check for file existence because we aren't depending on perl
+# currently using which to check for command existence because we aren't depending on perl
 # being present on remote machines.
-my $lscmd = '/bin/ls';
+my $whichcmd = 'which';
 
 if (length $args{'sshcipher'}) {
 	$args{'sshcipher'} = "-c $args{'sshcipher'}";
@@ -564,11 +567,11 @@ sub checkcommands {
 		if ($debug) { print "DEBUG: compression forced off from command line arguments.\n"; }
 	} else {
 		if ($debug) { print "DEBUG: checking availability of $compressargs{'rawcmd'} on source...\n"; }
-		$avail{'sourcecompress'} = `$sourcessh $lscmd $compressargs{'rawcmd'} 2>/dev/null`;
+		$avail{'sourcecompress'} = `$sourcessh $whichcmd $compressargs{'rawcmd'} 2>/dev/null`;
 		if ($debug) { print "DEBUG: checking availability of $compressargs{'rawcmd'} on target...\n"; }
-		$avail{'targetcompress'} = `$targetssh $lscmd $compressargs{'rawcmd'} 2>/dev/null`;
+		$avail{'targetcompress'} = `$targetssh $whichcmd $compressargs{'rawcmd'} 2>/dev/null`;
 		if ($debug) { print "DEBUG: checking availability of $compressargs{'rawcmd'} on local machine...\n"; }
-		$avail{'localcompress'} = `$lscmd $compressargs{'rawcmd'} 2>/dev/null`;
+		$avail{'localcompress'} = `$whichcmd $compressargs{'rawcmd'} 2>/dev/null`;
 	}
 
 	my ($s,$t);
@@ -620,7 +623,7 @@ sub checkcommands {
 	}
 
 	if ($debug) { print "DEBUG: checking availability of $mbuffercmd on source...\n"; }
-	$avail{'sourcembuffer'} = `$sourcessh $lscmd $mbuffercmd 2>/dev/null`;
+	$avail{'sourcembuffer'} = `$sourcessh $whichcmd $mbuffercmd 2>/dev/null`;
 	if ($avail{'sourcembuffer'} eq '') {
 		if (!$quiet) { print "WARN: $mbuffercmd not available on source $s - sync will continue without source buffering.\n"; }
 		$avail{'sourcembuffer'} = 0;
@@ -629,7 +632,7 @@ sub checkcommands {
 	}
 
 	if ($debug) { print "DEBUG: checking availability of $mbuffercmd on target...\n"; }
-	$avail{'targetmbuffer'} = `$targetssh $lscmd $mbuffercmd 2>/dev/null`;
+	$avail{'targetmbuffer'} = `$targetssh $whichcmd $mbuffercmd 2>/dev/null`;
 	if ($avail{'targetmbuffer'} eq '') {
 		if (!$quiet) { print "WARN: $mbuffercmd not available on target $t - sync will continue without target buffering.\n"; }
 		$avail{'targetmbuffer'} = 0;
@@ -640,7 +643,7 @@ sub checkcommands {
 	# if we're doing remote source AND remote target, check for local mbuffer as well
 	if ($sourcehost ne '' && $targethost ne '') {
 		if ($debug) { print "DEBUG: checking availability of $mbuffercmd on local machine...\n"; }
-		$avail{'localmbuffer'} = `$lscmd $mbuffercmd 2>/dev/null`;
+		$avail{'localmbuffer'} = `$whichcmd $mbuffercmd 2>/dev/null`;
 		if ($avail{'localmbuffer'} eq '') {
 			$avail{'localmbuffer'} = 0;
 			if (!$quiet) { print "WARN: $mbuffercmd not available on local machine - sync will continue without local buffering.\n"; }
@@ -648,7 +651,7 @@ sub checkcommands {
 	}
 
 	if ($debug) { print "DEBUG: checking availability of $pvcmd on local machine...\n"; }
-	$avail{'localpv'} = `$lscmd $pvcmd 2>/dev/null`;
+	$avail{'localpv'} = `$whichcmd $pvcmd 2>/dev/null`;
 	if ($avail{'localpv'} eq '') {
 		if (!$quiet) { print "WARN: $pvcmd not available on local machine - sync will continue without progress bar.\n"; }
 		$avail{'localpv'} = 0;