diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 9f9318fb906e..f828ebd8ba33 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ version = "1.2.0-DEV"
 [deps]
 AbstractAlgebra = "c3fe647b-3220-5bb0-a1ea-a7954cac585d"
 AlgebraicSolving = "66b61cbe-0446-4d5d-9090-1ff510639f9d"
+BinaryWrappers = "f01c122e-0ea1-4f85-ad8f-907073ad7a9f"
 Distributed = "8ba89e20-285c-5b6f-9357-94700520ee1b"
 GAP = "c863536a-3901-11e9-33e7-d5cd0df7b904"
 Hecke = "3e1990a7-5d81-5526-99ce-9ba3ff248f21"
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ cohomCalg_jll = "5558cf25-a90e-53b0-b813-cadaa3ae7ade"
 [compat]
 AbstractAlgebra = "0.43.1"
 AlgebraicSolving = "0.7.0"
+BinaryWrappers = "0.1"
 Distributed = "1.6"
 GAP = "0.11.3"
 Hecke = "0.34.1"
diff --git a/src/Oscar.jl b/src/Oscar.jl
index c87e8a5352f1..7435481e14bc 100644
--- a/src/Oscar.jl
+++ b/src/Oscar.jl
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ Hecke.@include_deprecated_bindings()
 
 include("utils/utils.jl")
 
+import BinaryWrappers
+
+const polymake_binpath = BinaryWrappers.@generate_wrappers(Polymake.polymake_jll)
+const singular_binpath = BinaryWrappers.@generate_wrappers(Singular.Singular_jll)
+
 # More helpful error message for users on Windows.
 windows_error() = error("""
 
@@ -87,6 +92,22 @@ function __init__()
   # `Julia.Oscar` if Oscar is loaded indirectly as a package dependency)
   GAP.Globals.BindGlobal(GapObj("Oscar"), Oscar)
 
+  GAP.Globals.POLYMAKE_COMMAND = GapObj(joinpath(polymake_binpath, "polymake"))  # TODO doesn't work on macOS
+#=
+
+probably because polymake is just a small perl script and not a binary...
+on Linux this seems to work
+  run(`$(polymake_jll.polymake())`)
+
+perhaps we can try it by adapting the code to also use Perl_jll. Something like this or a variant might work:
+
+run(addenv(`$(polymake_jll.Perl_jll.perl()) $(polymake_jll.polymake_path)`, polymake_jll.JLLWrappers.LIBPATH_env=>polymake_jll.LIBPATH[]))
+
+
+=#
+  
+  GAP.Globals.sing_exec = GapObj(joinpath(singular_binpath, "Singular"))  # TODO
+
   # Up to now, hopefully the GAP packages listed below have not been loaded.
   # We want newer versions of some GAP packages than the distributed ones.
   # (But we do not complain if the installation fails.)