diff --git a/doc/kcov.1 b/doc/kcov.1
index e8591959..d456cc4c 100644
--- a/doc/kcov.1
+++ b/doc/kcov.1
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ Set the python parser to use for Python programs (the default is python). Can be
 run with Python 3 on systems where Python 2 is the default.
 .TP
 \fB\-\-bash\-parser\fP=\fIPARSER\fP
-Set the bash parser to use for shell scripts (the default is /bin/bash).
+Set the bash parser to use for shell scripts (the default is bash).
 .TP
 \fB\-\-bash\-method\fP=\fIMETHOD\fP
 Use collection method \fIMETHOD\fP for bash scripts. The method can be either PS4, for use of
diff --git a/src/configuration.cc b/src/configuration.cc
index d81126f1..7429e684 100644
--- a/src/configuration.cc
+++ b/src/configuration.cc
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ class Configuration : public IConfiguration
 #ifdef __FreeBSD__
 		setKey("bash-command", "/usr/local/bin/bash");
 #else
-		setKey("bash-command", "/bin/bash");
+		setKey("bash-command", "bash");
 #endif
 		setKey("kernel-coverage-path", "/sys/kernel/debug/kprobe-coverage");
 		setKey("path-strip-level", 2);
diff --git a/src/engines/bash-engine.cc b/src/engines/bash-engine.cc
index 693171f2..a4e8125e 100644
--- a/src/engines/bash-engine.cc
+++ b/src/engines/bash-engine.cc
@@ -78,6 +78,14 @@ class BashEngine : public ScriptEngineBase
 			return false;
 		}
 
+		const std::string command = conf.keyAsString("bash-command");
+		if (!executable_exists_in_path(command))
+		{
+			error("Cannot find Bash parser '%s'", command.c_str());
+
+			return false;
+		}
+
 		m_bashSupportsXtraceFd = bashCanHandleXtraceFd();
 
 		std::string helperPath = IOutputHandler::getInstance().getBaseDirectory() + "bash-helper.sh";
@@ -165,7 +173,6 @@ class BashEngine : public ScriptEngineBase
 				xtraceFd = rlim.rlim_cur / 4;
 #endif
 			}
-			const std::string command = conf.keyAsString("bash-command");
 			bool usePS4 = conf.keyAsInt("bash-use-ps4");
 
 			// Revert to stderr if this bash version can't handle BASH_XTRACE
@@ -228,13 +235,13 @@ class BashEngine : public ScriptEngineBase
 			char **vec;
 			int argcStart = 1;
 			vec = (char **) xmalloc(sizeof(char *) * (argc + 3));
-			vec[0] = xstrdup(conf.keyAsString("bash-command").c_str());
+			vec[0] = xstrdup(command.c_str());
 
 			for (unsigned i = 0; i < argc; i++)
 				vec[argcStart + i] = xstrdup(argv[i]);
 
 			/* Execute the script */
-			if (execv(vec[0], vec))
+			if (execvp(vec[0], vec))
 			{
 				perror("Failed to execute script");
 
diff --git a/src/engines/bash-execve-redirector.c b/src/engines/bash-execve-redirector.c
index 8a2b444b..26ca01de 100644
--- a/src/engines/bash-execve-redirector.c
+++ b/src/engines/bash-execve-redirector.c
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ int execve(const char *filename, char * const argv[], char * const envp[])
 			&& (strstr(startBytes, "/bin/sh") != NULL || strstr(startBytes, "/bin/bash") != NULL
 					|| strstr(startBytes, "/bin/ash") != NULL || strstr(startBytes, "/bin/dash") != NULL ))
 	{
+		char *bashExec = "/bin/bash";
 		char **replacementArgv;
 		unsigned i = 0;
 
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ int execve(const char *filename, char * const argv[], char * const envp[])
 		unsigned arg = 0;
 
 		replacementArgv = malloc(sizeof(char*) * (i + 4));
-		replacementArgv[arg++] = strdup(kcovBash);
+		replacementArgv[arg++] = strdup(bashExec);
 		if (!kcovUseDebugTrap)
 			replacementArgv[arg++] = strdup(bashArg);
 		replacementArgv[arg++] = strdup(filename);
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ int execve(const char *filename, char * const argv[], char * const envp[])
 			replacementArgv[i + arg] = strdup(argv[i]);
 		replacementArgv[i + arg] = NULL;
 
-		filename = strdup(kcovBash);
+		filename = strdup(bashExec);
 
 		argv = replacementArgv;
 	}