diff --git a/src/client/distren.c b/src/client/distren.c
--- a/src/client/distren.c
+++ b/src/client/distren.c
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@
 
 #include <stdio.h> /* sprintf, printf */
 #include <stdlib.h> /* malloc, free */
+
 #include "options.h"
+#include "execio.h"
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
@@ -28,8 +30,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     {
       "ssh",
       "protofusion.org",
-      "echo",
-      "hello from protofusion.org"
+      "sh",
+      "-c",
+      "\"echo hello from ${HOSTNAME} 1>&2\"",
+      (char *)NULL
     };
 
   fprintf(stderr, "testing execio (It shouldn't work) :-)\n");