As for libc's `system', change Awk to look for `sh' in $PATH. This patch is only meant to be used during bootstrapping, where we don't know in advance the absolute file name of `sh'. --- gawk-4.1.3/io.c 2015-05-19 15:37:20.000000000 +0200 +++ gawk-4.1.3/io.c 2015-06-09 18:39:36.918414881 +0200 @@ -1945,7 +1945,7 @@ two_way_open(const char *str, struct red signal(SIGPIPE, SIG_DFL); - execl("/bin/sh", "sh", "-c", str, NULL); + execlp("sh", "sh", "-c", str, NULL); _exit(errno == ENOENT ? 127 : 126); case -1: @@ -2129,7 +2129,7 @@ use_pipes: fatal(_("close of pipe failed (%s)"), strerror(errno)); /* stderr does NOT get dup'ed onto child's stdout */ signal(SIGPIPE, SIG_DFL); - execl("/bin/sh", "sh", "-c", str, NULL); + execlp("sh", "sh", "-c", str, NULL); _exit(errno == ENOENT ? 127 : 126); } #endif /* NOT __EMX__, NOT __MINGW32__ */ @@ -2323,7 +2323,7 @@ gawk_popen(const char *cmd, struct redir if (close(p[0]) == -1 || close(p[1]) == -1) fatal(_("close of pipe failed (%s)"), strerror(errno)); signal(SIGPIPE, SIG_DFL); - execl("/bin/sh", "sh", "-c", cmd, NULL); + execlp("sh", "sh", "-c", cmd, NULL); _exit(errno == ENOENT ? 127 : 126); } #endif /* NOT __EMX__, NOT __MINGW32__ */