diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/xw/xwax/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/xw/xwax/package.nix
index 5550e81df577e..a6e4f24b80dbc 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/xw/xwax/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/xw/xwax/package.nix
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     # therefore we patch interface.c to also look up in the dejavu_fonts nix store path
     substituteInPlace interface.c \
       --replace-fail "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF" "${dejavu_fonts.outPath}/share/fonts/truetype/"
+
+    # make paths to executed binaries hermetic:
+    substituteInPlace import \
+      --replace-fail "exec cdparanoia" "exec ${lib.getExe cdparanoia}" \
+      --replace-fail "exec ffmpeg" "exec ${lib.getExe ffmpeg}"
   '';
 
   buildInputs = [
@@ -60,17 +65,14 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
+  makeFlags = [
+    "PREFIX=${placeholder "out"}"
+  ];
+
   nativeInstallCheckInputs = [ versionCheckHook ];
   versionCheckProgramArg = "-h";
   doInstallCheck = true;
 
-  installPhase = ''
-    runHook preInstall
-    mkdir -p $out/bin
-    cp xwax  $out/bin/xwax
-    runHook postInstall
-  '';
-
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://xwax.org";
     description = "Digital vinyl on Linux";