diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/ghostscript.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/ghostscript.py
index e28d23e9..183cd918 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/ghostscript.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/ghostscript.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ log.addFilter(DuplicateFilter(log))
 
 
 # Ghostscript executable - gswin32c is not supported
-GS = 'gswin64c' if os.name == 'nt' else 'gs'
+GS = '@gs@'
 
 
 def version() -> Version:
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/jbig2enc.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/jbig2enc.py
index 28d3dd1c..477a7d6c 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/jbig2enc.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/jbig2enc.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from ocrmypdf.subprocess import get_version, run
 
 
 def version() -> Version:
-    return Version(get_version('jbig2', regex=r'jbig2enc (\d+(\.\d+)*).*'))
+    return Version(get_version('@jbig2@', regex=r'jbig2enc (\d+(\.\d+)*).*'))
 
 
 def available():
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ def available():
 
 def convert_group(*, cwd, infiles, out_prefix, threshold):
     args = [
-        'jbig2',
+        '@jbig2@',
         '-b',
         out_prefix,
         '--symbol-mode',  # symbol mode (lossy)
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def convert_group_mp(args):
 
 
 def convert_single(*, cwd, infile, outfile, threshold):
-    args = ['jbig2', '--pdf', '-t', str(threshold), infile]
+    args = ['@jbig2@', '--pdf', '-t', str(threshold), infile]
     with open(outfile, 'wb') as fstdout:
         proc = run(args, cwd=cwd, stdout=fstdout, stderr=PIPE)
     proc.check_returncode()
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/pngquant.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/pngquant.py
index 8425caec..a027f041 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/pngquant.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/pngquant.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from ocrmypdf.subprocess import get_version, run
 
 
 def version() -> Version:
-    return Version(get_version('pngquant', regex=r'(\d+(\.\d+)*).*'))
+    return Version(get_version('@pngquant@', regex=r'(\d+(\.\d+)*).*'))
 
 
 def available():
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ def input_as_png(input_file: Path):
 def quantize(input_file: Path, output_file: Path, quality_min: int, quality_max: int):
     with input_as_png(input_file) as input_stream:
         args = [
-            'pngquant',
+            '@pngquant@',
             '--force',
             '--skip-if-larger',
             '--quality',
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/tesseract.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/tesseract.py
index 4eac3470..61315d14 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/tesseract.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/tesseract.py
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ class TesseractVersion(Version):
 
 
 def version() -> Version:
-    return TesseractVersion(get_version('tesseract', regex=r'tesseract\s(.+)'))
+    return TesseractVersion(get_version('@tesseract@', regex=r'tesseract\s(.+)'))
 
 
 def has_thresholding() -> bool:
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ def get_languages() -> set[str]:
         msg += output
         return msg
 
-    args_tess = ['tesseract', '--list-langs']
+    args_tess = ['@tesseract@', '--list-langs']
     try:
         proc = run(
             args_tess,
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ def get_languages() -> set[str]:
 
 
 def tess_base_args(langs: list[str], engine_mode: int | None) -> list[str]:
-    args = ['tesseract']
+    args = ['@tesseract@']
     if langs:
         args.extend(['-l', '+'.join(langs)])
     if engine_mode is not None:
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/unpaper.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/unpaper.py
index 2944b4f4..55a36140 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/unpaper.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_exec/unpaper.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ class UnpaperImageTooLargeError(Exception):
 
 
 def version() -> Version:
-    return Version(get_version('unpaper'))
+    return Version(get_version('@unpaper@'))
 
 
 SUPPORTED_MODES = {'1', 'L', 'RGB'}
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ def _setup_unpaper_io(input_file: Path) -> Iterator[tuple[Path, Path, Path]]:
 def run_unpaper(
     input_file: Path, output_file: Path, *, dpi: DecFloat, mode_args: list[str]
 ) -> None:
-    args_unpaper = ['unpaper', '-v', '--dpi', str(round(dpi, 6))] + mode_args
+    args_unpaper = ['@unpaper@', '-v', '--dpi', str(round(dpi, 6))] + mode_args
 
     with _setup_unpaper_io(input_file) as (input_png, output_pnm, tmpdir):
         # To prevent any shenanigans from accepting arbitrary parameters in