diff --git a/tests/clitest.py b/tests/clitest.py
index 2c425cc03..07a9ff551 100644
--- a/tests/clitest.py
+++ b/tests/clitest.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 # See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
 
 import atexit
-from distutils.spawn import find_executable
 import io
 import logging
 import os
@@ -29,7 +28,7 @@ os.environ["DISPLAY"] = ":3.4"
 TMP_IMAGE_DIR = "/tmp/__virtinst_cli_"
 XMLDIR = "tests/cli-test-xml"
 OLD_OSINFO = utils.has_old_osinfo()
-HAS_ISOINFO = find_executable("isoinfo")
+HAS_ISOINFO = shutil.which("isoinfo")
 
 # Images that will be created by virt-install/virt-clone, and removed before
 # each run
diff --git a/virtcli/cliconfig.py b/virtcli/cliconfig.py
index b270a7857..5b3d28a71 100644
--- a/virtcli/cliconfig.py
+++ b/virtcli/cliconfig.py
@@ -50,16 +50,13 @@ def _setup_gsettings_path(schemadir):
     schema and use it directly
     """
     import subprocess
-    from distutils.spawn import find_executable
+    import shutil
 
-    exe = find_executable("glib-compile-schemas")
+    exe = shutil.which("glib-compile-schemas")
     if not exe:
         raise RuntimeError("You must install glib-compile-schemas to run "
             "virt-manager from git.")
-
-    ret = subprocess.call([exe, "--strict", schemadir])
-    if ret != 0:
-        raise RuntimeError("Failed to compile local gsettings schemas")
+    subprocess.check_call([exe, "--strict", schemadir])
 
 
 __version__ = "2.1.0"
diff --git a/virtconv/formats.py b/virtconv/formats.py
index ed019e17d..ff4b97f52 100644
--- a/virtconv/formats.py
+++ b/virtconv/formats.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 # See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
 #
 
-from distutils.spawn import find_executable
 import logging
 import os
 import re
@@ -143,7 +142,7 @@ def _find_input(input_file, parser, print_cb):
                 binname = "xz"
                 pkg = "xz"
                 cmd = ["tar", "Jxf", input_file, "-C", tempdir]
-            if not find_executable(binname):
+            if not shutil.which(binname):
                 raise RuntimeError(_("%s appears to be an archive, "
                     "but '%s' is not installed. "
                     "Please either install '%s', or extract the archive "
@@ -252,7 +251,7 @@ class VirtConverter(object):
             executable = "/usr/bin/qemu-img"
         else:
             for binname in binnames:
-                executable = find_executable(binname)
+                executable = shutil.which(binname)
                 if executable:
                     break
 
@@ -262,7 +261,7 @@ class VirtConverter(object):
         base = os.path.basename(absin)
         ext = os.path.splitext(base)[1]
         if (ext and ext[1:] == "gz"):
-            if not find_executable("gzip"):
+            if not shutil.which("gzip"):
                 raise RuntimeError("'gzip' is needed to decompress the file, "
                     "but not found.")
             decompress_cmd = ["gzip", "-d", absin]