diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b2e21818c776408ccbc9d8b48f16ff4e9c287381..98482ac154e6a93e8c04664960a7edebe72316b4 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ version 0.9.5 -- unreleased
 	 . Fixed checks on configuration files permissions, since the patch
 	   applied to fix #370396 broke this, especially for configuration files
 	   created with permissions 000 by an older ninjahelper version.
+	 . Enhanced portability for other platforms 
     handler changes
 	sys:
 	 . Fixed typo breaking things for VServers.
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 2b8c2693f5e6cbf3b2f34eb5289a9072d5b43f64..716c1752a507076588d2919e7391af92f86fdff4 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -12,20 +12,30 @@ AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 # BASH may already be set in the shell, if the admin then changes the
 # the /bin/sh symlink to a non-bash shell, all hell will break lose.
 unset BASH
-AC_PATH_PROGS([BASH], [bash], [/bin/bash], [$PATH:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin])
-if test x$BASH = "x"; then
+AC_PATH_PROGS(BASH, bash, "no", [$PATH:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin])
+if test x$BASH = "xno"; then
     AC_MSG_ERROR([bash is required])
 fi
 
-AC_CHECK_PROGS(SED, sed)
-if test x$SED = "x"; then
+AC_PATH_PROGS(SED, sed, "no")
+if test x$SED = "xno"; then
     AC_MSG_ERROR([sed is required])
+else
+   export SED
 fi
 
-AC_CHECK_PROGS(AWK, awk)
-if test x$AWK = "x"; then
+AC_PATH_PROGS(AWK, awk, "no")
+if test x$AWK = "xno"; then
     AC_MSG_ERROR([awk is required])
+else
+   export AWK
 fi
+
+AC_PATH_PROGS(MD5SUM, md5sum, "no")
+if test x$MD5SUM = "xno"; then
+    AC_MSG_ERROR([md5sum is required])
+fi
+
 AC_CHECK_PROG(ac_cv_have_rpm, rpm, "yes", "no")
 if test "x$ac_cv_have_rpm" = "xyes"; then
         rpm --define '_topdir /tmp' > /dev/null 2>&1
diff --git a/handlers/Makefile.am b/handlers/Makefile.am
index 7d802c16a9540c5a4c0e98b2c3b6ddaa827bca20..b627f79bd8e3d31cf4022b8865c0b0b148b054e2 100644
--- a/handlers/Makefile.am
+++ b/handlers/Makefile.am
@@ -5,4 +5,9 @@ HANDLERS = dup dup.helper maildir mysql.helper rdiff sys makecd makecd.helper \
 
 EXTRA_DIST = Makefile.am $(HANDLERS)
 
+edit = sed \
+    -e "s,@BASH\@,$(BASH),g" \
+    -e "s,@AWK\@,$(AWK),g" \
+    -e "s,@SED\@,$(SED),g" 
+
 dist_pkgdata_DATA = $(HANDLERS)
diff --git a/handlers/dup b/handlers/dup
index 15d1a02f0c5e79699d95e174be9c04bf0b6c9cc2..8e0367d85e36a71b9534f8bc9a82b2cd916f600f 100644
--- a/handlers/dup
+++ b/handlers/dup
@@ -71,10 +71,10 @@ fi
 ### COMMAND-LINE MANGLING ###
 
 # duplicity >= 0.4.2 needs --sftp-command (NB: sftp does not support the -l option)
-duplicity_version="`duplicity --version | awk '{print $2}'`"
-duplicity_major="`echo $duplicity_version | awk -F '.' '{print $1}'`"
-duplicity_minor="`echo $duplicity_version | awk -F '.' '{print $2}'`"
-duplicity_sub="`echo $duplicity_version | awk -F '.' '{print $3}'`"
+duplicity_version="`duplicity --version | @AWK@ '{print $2}'`"
+duplicity_major="`echo $duplicity_version | @AWK@ -F '.' '{print $1}'`"
+duplicity_minor="`echo $duplicity_version | @AWK@ -F '.' '{print $2}'`"
+duplicity_sub="`echo $duplicity_version | @AWK@ -F '.' '{print $3}'`"
 if [ "$duplicity_major" -ge 0 -a "$duplicity_minor" -ge 4 -a "$duplicity_sub" -ge 2 ]; then
    sftpoptions="$sshoptions"
 fi
diff --git a/handlers/ldap b/handlers/ldap
index 242755edcd8b393e2c7b639fbba9ec823d5cf453..5f9040a32ebe056f3f3c24050aa4ada9ab2a2d5f 100644
--- a/handlers/ldap
+++ b/handlers/ldap
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ status="ok"
 [ -d $backupdir ] || mkdir -p $backupdir
 [ -d $backupdir ] || fatal "Backup directory '$backupdir'"
 
-dbsuffixes=(`awk 'BEGIN {OFS=":"} /[:space:]*^database[:space:]*\w*/ {db=$2}; /^[:space:]*suffix[:space:]*\w*/ {if (db=="bdb"||db=="ldbm") print db,$2}' $conf|sed -e 's/[" ]//g'`)
+dbsuffixes=(`@AWK@ 'BEGIN {OFS=":"} /[:space:]*^database[:space:]*\w*/ {db=$2}; /^[:space:]*suffix[:space:]*\w*/ {if (db=="bdb"||db=="ldbm") print db,$2}' $conf|@SED@ -e 's/[" ]//g'`)
 
 ## LDIF DUMP
 
diff --git a/handlers/ldap.helper b/handlers/ldap.helper
index 9aecec8c0ec53ea19e4c8e6618d1eb867022c9b1..697c720209595a84c62de09a7bd8fc32a7cd938e 100644
--- a/handlers/ldap.helper
+++ b/handlers/ldap.helper
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ done
 ldap_wizard() {
    bdb=no
    ldbm=no
-   for backend in `grep -e "^backend" /etc/ldap/slapd.conf | awk '{print $2}'`; do
+   for backend in `grep -e "^backend" /etc/ldap/slapd.conf | @AWK@ '{print $2}'`; do
       if [ "$backend" == "bdb" -a "$bdb" == "no" ]; then
          bdb=yes
       elif [ "$backend" == "ldbm" -a "$ldbm" == "no" ]; then
diff --git a/handlers/maildir b/handlers/maildir
index 49b254217a25a62b2e245d05e01eaa1012cb3424..ab89f7042f90b150ec4355da685f200e559f8950 100644
--- a/handlers/maildir
+++ b/handlers/maildir
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ function do_rotate() {
 		fi
 		
 		# Rotate the current list of backups, if we can.
-		oldest=\`find $backuproot -type d -maxdepth 1 -name \$rottype'.*' | sed 's/^.*\.//' | sort -n | tail -1\`
+		oldest=\`find $backuproot -type d -maxdepth 1 -name \$rottype'.*' | @SED@ 's/^.*\.//' | sort -n | tail -1\`
 		#echo "Debug: oldest \$oldest"
 		[ "\$oldest" == "" ] && oldest=0
 		for (( i=\$oldest; i > 0; i-- )); do
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ function do_rotate() {
 	for rottype in daily weekly monthly; do
 		max=\$((keep\${rottype}+1))
 		dir="$backuproot/\$rottype"
-		oldest=\`find $backuproot -type d -maxdepth 1 -name \$rottype'.*' | sed 's/^.*\.//' | sort -n | tail -1\`
+		oldest=\`find $backuproot -type d -maxdepth 1 -name \$rottype'.*' | @SED@ 's/^.*\.//' | sort -n | tail -1\`
 		[ "\$oldest" == "" ] && oldest=0 
 		# if we've rotated the last backup off the stack, remove it.
 		for (( i=\$oldest; i >= \$max; i-- )); do
diff --git a/handlers/mysql b/handlers/mysql
index b3d0a73b08b709325372211dd8731ee0e2f2ff0c..de4e4c3d2f920d8117c2e960e9c1f5e1619ccf22 100644
--- a/handlers/mysql
+++ b/handlers/mysql
@@ -90,10 +90,10 @@ if [ "$dbusername" != "" -a "$dbpassword" != "" ]
 then
     if [ $usevserver = yes ]
     then
-    	vhome=`$VSERVER $vsname exec getent passwd "root" | awk -F: '{print $6}'`
+    	vhome=`$VSERVER $vsname exec getent passwd "root" | @AWK@ -F: '{print $6}'`
 	home="$vroot$vhome"
     else
-    	home=`getent passwd "root" | awk -F: '{print $6}'`
+    	home=`getent passwd "root" | @AWK@ -F: '{print $6}'`
     fi
 
     [ -d $home ] || fatal "Can't find root's home directory ($home)."
@@ -144,14 +144,14 @@ else
 	userset=true;
 	if [ $usevserver = yes ]
 	then
-	    vuserhome=`$VSERVER $vsname exec getent passwd "$user" | awk -F: '{print $6}'`
+	    vuserhome=`$VSERVER $vsname exec getent passwd "$user" | @AWK@ -F: '{print $6}'`
 	    if [ $? -eq 2 ]
 	    then
 	    	fatal "User $user not found in /etc/passwd"
 	    fi
     	    userhome="$vroot$vuserhome"
 	else
-	    userhome=`getent passwd "$user" | awk -F: '{print $6}'`
+	    userhome=`getent passwd "$user" | @AWK@ -F: '{print $6}'`
 	    if [ $? -eq 2 ]
 	    then
 	    	fatal "User $user not found in /etc/passwd"
diff --git a/handlers/pgsql b/handlers/pgsql
index fb8fa4fbd54b89301e59052963dabef7a5dd3702..23e2c2b42f0553864846b1fba38c91d5d4469e1f 100644
--- a/handlers/pgsql
+++ b/handlers/pgsql
@@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ fi
 # give backup dir the good uid and permissions
 # (in respect to the vserver, if $usevserver = yes)
 if [ $usevserver = yes ]; then
-   pguid=`$VSERVER $vsname exec getent passwd $PGSQLUSER | awk -F: '{print $3}'`
+   pguid=`$VSERVER $vsname exec getent passwd $PGSQLUSER | @AWK@ -F: '{print $3}'`
 else
-   pguid=`getent passwd $PGSQLUSER | awk -F: '{print $3}'`
+   pguid=`getent passwd $PGSQLUSER | @AWK@ -F: '{print $3}'`
 fi
 [ -n "$pguid" ] || \
     fatal "No user called $PGSQLUSER`[ $usevserver = no ] || echo \" on vserver $vsname\"`."
diff --git a/handlers/sys b/handlers/sys
index 57d9d60859c37d2efba1052b2cbe7295d65b1e0b..ce9c5b03e2d523f267d950dc2186078c9e60aacf 100755
--- a/handlers/sys
+++ b/handlers/sys
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ elif [ $os = "debian" ]; then
        echo "Level: $level" >> $sysreportfile
        for f in /etc/rc${level}.d/*; do
 	# Remove /etc/Knn or Snn from beginning
-          ff=$(echo $f | sed 's_/etc/rc..d/[KS][0-9][0-9]__')
+          ff=$(echo $f | @SED@ 's_/etc/rc..d/[KS][0-9][0-9]__')
           if [ $f != $ff ]; then
              echo $ff >> $sysreportfile
           fi
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ fi
 # these files can be used to directly partition a disk of the same size.
 
 if [ "$partitions" == "yes" ]; then
-	devices=`$SFDISK -l 2>/dev/null | grep "^Disk /dev" | awk '{print $2}' | cut -d: -f1`
+	devices=`$SFDISK -l 2>/dev/null | grep "^Disk /dev" | @AWK@ '{print $2}' | cut -d: -f1`
 	if [ "$devices" == "" ]; then 
 	   warning "No harddisks found" 
 	fi
diff --git a/lib/Makefile.am b/lib/Makefile.am
index fc2e052294d9237671110a225738776a896e2ac0..9f3a029bad477e83245a204a0626ad9fab64b0aa 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/Makefile.am
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ EXTRA_DIST = easydialog.in parseini.in tools.in vserver.in
 edit = sed \
     -e "s,@CFGDIR\@,$(CFGDIR),g" \
     -e "s,@BASH\@,$(BASH),g" \
-    -e 's,@datadir\@,$(pkgdatadir),g' \
-    -e "s,@libdir\@,$(pkglibdir),g" \
-    -e 's,@localstatedir\@,$(localstatedir),g' \
-        -e 's,@prefix\@,$(prefix),g'
+    -e "s,@AWK\@,$(AWK),g" \
+    -e "s,@SED\@,$(SED),g" \
+    -e "s,@MD5SUM\@,$(MD5SUM),g" \
+    -e "s,@libdir\@,$(pkglibdir),g" 
 
 easydialog: $(srcdir)/easydialog.in
 	rm -f easydialog
diff --git a/lib/tools.in b/lib/tools.in
index 2ec4da05c213df7b832006cdc6cebcc0d69cd27f..37fa2129105ede12e8da22113870056e32a4297b 100644
--- a/lib/tools.in
+++ b/lib/tools.in
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ function maketemp() {
 		local tempfile=`mktemp /tmp/$1.XXXXXXXX`
 	else
 		DATE=`date`
-		sectmp=`echo $DATE | /usr/bin/md5sum | cut -d- -f1`
+		sectmp=`echo $DATE | @MD5SUM@ | cut -d- -f1`
 		local tempfile=/tmp/$1.$sectmp
 	fi
 	echo $tempfile
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ function setsection() {
 # 
 function getconf() {
 	CURRENT_PARAM=$1
-	ret=`awk -f $libdirectory/parseini S=$CURRENT_SECTION P=$CURRENT_PARAM $CURRENT_CONF_FILE`
+	ret=`@AWK@ -f $libdirectory/parseini S=$CURRENT_SECTION P=$CURRENT_PARAM $CURRENT_CONF_FILE`
 	# if nothing is returned, set the default
 	if [ "$ret" == "" -a "$2" != "" ]; then
 		ret="$2"
diff --git a/lib/vserver.in b/lib/vserver.in
index 8ac7b7e5fa76b18f300c683b271ddbf9d211998e..f65bd4c37a7d7e9c2e6ce09f99a6847e2b530904 100644
--- a/lib/vserver.in
+++ b/lib/vserver.in
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ init_vservers() {
    getconf vservers no
    getconf VSERVERINFO /usr/sbin/vserver-info
    getconf VSERVER /usr/sbin/vserver
-   getconf VROOTDIR `if [ -x "$VSERVERINFO" ]; then $VSERVERINFO info SYSINFO | grep '^ *vserver-Rootdir' | awk '{print $2}'; fi`
+   getconf VROOTDIR `if [ -x "$VSERVERINFO" ]; then $VSERVERINFO info SYSINFO | grep '^ *vserver-Rootdir' | @AWK@ '{print $2}'; fi`
    # canonicalize VROOTDIR
    [ -z "$VROOTDIR" ] || VROOTDIR=`readlink --canonicalize $VROOTDIR`
    # init this library's global variables
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 44b314845c885980fd215c1c2fa43d124edd8ec3..f0cb69c12ff15061c3a78b8d7c426fbaf46827ab 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@ EXTRA_DIST = backupninja.in ninjahelper.in
 edit = sed \
     -e "s,@CFGDIR\@,$(CFGDIR),g" \
     -e "s,@BASH\@,$(BASH),g" \
+    -e "s,@AWK\@,$(AWK),g" \
+    -e "s,@SED\@,$(SED),g" \
     -e 's,@datadir\@,$(pkgdatadir),g' \
     -e "s,@libdir\@,$(pkglibdir),g" \
     -e 's,@localstatedir\@,$(localstatedir),g' \
-	-e 's,@prefix\@,$(prefix),g'
+    -e 's,@prefix\@,$(prefix),g'
 
 #install-exec-hook:
 
diff --git a/src/backupninja.in b/src/backupninja.in
index 6295198761c3018ceb4add8fdba08d9faf1c02ba..02ffa25b519fc5cd7f860cd580b3c5ca8918169e 100755
--- a/src/backupninja.in
+++ b/src/backupninja.in
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ function setupcolors () {
 
 function colorize () {
 	if [ "$usecolors" == "yes" ]; then
-		local typestr=`echo "$@" | sed 's/\(^[^:]*\).*$/\1/'`
+		local typestr=`echo "$@" | @SED@ 's/\(^[^:]*\).*$/\1/'`
 		[ "$typestr" == "Debug" ] && type=0
 		[ "$typestr" == "Info" ] && type=1
 		[ "$typestr" == "Warning" ] && type=2
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ function printmsg() {
 	type=$1
 	shift
 	if [ $type == 100 ]; then
-		typestr=`echo "$@" | sed 's/\(^[^:]*\).*$/\1/'`
+		typestr=`echo "$@" | @SED@ 's/\(^[^:]*\).*$/\1/'`
 		[ "$typestr" == "Debug" ] && type=0
 		[ "$typestr" == "Info" ] && type=1
 		[ "$typestr" == "Warning" ] && type=2
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ function isnow() {
 	whendayofweek=$1; at=$2; whentime=$3;
 	whenday=`toint "$whendayofweek"`
 	whendayofweek=`tolower "$whendayofweek"`
-	whentime=`echo "$whentime" | sed 's/:[0-9][0-9]$//' | sed -r 's/^([0-9])$/0\1/'`
+	whentime=`echo "$whentime" | @SED@ 's/:[0-9][0-9]$//' | @SED@ -r 's/^([0-9])$/0\1/'`
 
 	if [ "$whendayofweek" == "everyday" -o "$whendayofweek" == "daily" ]; then
 		whendayofweek=$nowdayofweek
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ if [ ! -r "$conffile" ]; then
 fi
 
 # find $libdirectory
-libdirectory=`grep '^libdirectory' $conffile | awk '{print $3}'`
+libdirectory=`grep '^libdirectory' $conffile | @AWK@ '{print $3}'`
 if [ -z "$libdirectory" ]; then
         if [ -d "@libdir@" ]; then
 	   libdirectory="@libdir@"
@@ -541,9 +541,9 @@ if [ $doit == 1 ]; then
 		if [ "$reportspace" == "yes" ]; then
 			previous=""
 			for i in $(ls "$configdirectory"); do
-			backuploc=$(grep ^directory "$configdirectory"/"$i" | awk '{print $3}')
+			backuploc=$(grep ^directory "$configdirectory"/"$i" | @AWK@ '{print $3}')
 			if [ "$backuploc" != "$previous" ]; then
-				mountdev=$(mount | grep "$backuploc" | awk '{print $1}')
+				mountdev=$(mount | grep "$backuploc" | @AWK@ '{print $1}')
 				df -h "$mountdev"
 				previous="$backuploc"
 				fi
diff --git a/src/ninjahelper.in b/src/ninjahelper.in
index 26d28567e17b04a694e4d6e899642a8bf4c492ce..040727baa7eb2de9ac54e1e85843e4ab5f4ae15f 100755
--- a/src/ninjahelper.in
+++ b/src/ninjahelper.in
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ if [ ! -r "$conffile" ]; then
 fi
 
 # find $libdirectory
-libdirectory=`grep '^libdirectory' $conffile | awk '{print $3}'`
+libdirectory=`grep '^libdirectory' $conffile | @AWK@ '{print $3}'`
 if [ -z "$libdirectory" ]; then
    if [ -d "@libdir@" ]; then
       libdirectory="@libdir@"