diff --git a/xen/Makefile b/xen/Makefile
index dd0b004e1c..7ea13a6791 100644
--- a/xen/Makefile
+++ b/xen/Makefile
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ export XEN_BUILD_HOST	:= $(shell hostname)
 endif
 
 # Best effort attempt to find a python interpreter, defaulting to Python 3 if
-# available.  Fall back to just `python` if `which` is nowhere to be found.
-PYTHON_INTERPRETER	:= $(word 1,$(shell which python3 python python2 2>/dev/null) python)
+# available.  Fall back to just `python`.
+PYTHON_INTERPRETER	:= $(word 1,$(shell command -v python3 || command -v python || command -v python2) python)
 export PYTHON		?= $(PYTHON_INTERPRETER)
 
 export CHECKPOLICY	?= checkpolicy
diff --git a/xen/build.mk b/xen/build.mk
index 9ecb104f1e..b489f77b7c 100644
--- a/xen/build.mk
+++ b/xen/build.mk
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 quiet_cmd_banner = BANNER  $@
 define cmd_banner
-    if which figlet >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then \
+    if command -v figlet >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then \
 	echo " Xen $(XEN_FULLVERSION)" | figlet -f $< > $@.tmp; \
     else \
 	echo " Xen $(XEN_FULLVERSION)" > $@.tmp; \