diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/_2/_20kly/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/_2/_20kly/package.nix
index 605def822c2c..cb5e307ba6fc 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/_2/_20kly/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/_2/_20kly/package.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ python3Packages.buildPythonApplication (finalAttrs: {
 
   patchPhase = ''
     substituteInPlace lightyears \
-      --replace \
+      --replace-fail \
         "LIGHTYEARS_DIR = \".\"" \
         "LIGHTYEARS_DIR = \"$out/share\""
   '';
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/_3/_3proxy/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/_3/_3proxy/package.nix
index 0592f143d9b6..72c98b5bf3e7 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/_3/_3proxy/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/_3/_3proxy/package.nix
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   # Don't strip binary on install, we strip it on fixup phase anyway.
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace Makefile.Linux \
-      --replace "(INSTALL_BIN) -s" "(INSTALL_BIN)" \
-      --replace "/usr" ""
+      --replace-fail "(INSTALL_BIN) -s" "(INSTALL_BIN)" \
+      --replace-fail "/usr" ""
   '';
 
   makeFlags = [
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/_7/_7zip-zstd/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/_7/_7zip-zstd/package.nix
index a10b436ad5b6..2614b4b43472 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/_7/_7zip-zstd/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/_7/_7zip-zstd/package.nix
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   ''
   + lib.optionalString stdenv.hostPlatform.isMinGW ''
     substituteInPlace CPP/7zip/7zip_gcc.mak C/7zip_gcc_c.mak \
-      --replace windres.exe ${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}windres
+      --replace-fail windres.exe ${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}windres
   '';
 
   buildPhase =
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/_7/_7zz/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/_7/_7zz/package.nix
index b06c35c81645..95ab0d4ef519 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/_7/_7zz/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/_7/_7zz/package.nix
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   postPatch = lib.optionalString stdenv.hostPlatform.isMinGW ''
     substituteInPlace CPP/7zip/7zip_gcc.mak C/7zip_gcc_c.mak \
-      --replace windres.exe ${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}windres
+      --replace-fail windres.exe ${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}windres
   '';
 
   env.NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = toString (
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/_9/_9base/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/_9/_9base/package.nix
index 47e81a9b919e..286e9392c1b5 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/_9/_9base/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/_9/_9base/package.nix
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   # the 9yacc script needs to be executed to build other items
   preBuild = lib.optionalString (!stdenv.buildPlatform.canExecute stdenv.hostPlatform) ''
     substituteInPlace ./yacc/9yacc \
-      --replace "../yacc/yacc" "${lib.getExe' pkgsBuildHost._9base "yacc"}"
+      --replace-fail "../yacc/yacc" "${lib.getExe' pkgsBuildHost._9base "yacc"}"
   '';
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/_9/_9pfs/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/_9/_9pfs/package.nix
index d57ea3abcb37..54d50ee3cf44 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/_9/_9pfs/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/_9/_9pfs/package.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   };
 
   postPatch = ''
-    substituteInPlace Makefile --replace "pkg-config" "$PKG_CONFIG"
+    substituteInPlace Makefile --replace-fail "pkg-config" "$PKG_CONFIG"
   '';
 
   makeFlags = [
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/a2/a2jmidid/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/a2/a2jmidid/package.nix
index 61fd1a471b76..8cf34304719a 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/a2/a2jmidid/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/a2/a2jmidid/package.nix
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   postInstall = ''
     wrapProgram $out/bin/a2j_control --set PYTHONPATH $PYTHONPATH
-    substituteInPlace $out/bin/a2j --replace "a2j_control" "$out/bin/a2j_control"
+    substituteInPlace $out/bin/a2j --replace-fail "a2j_control" "$out/bin/a2j_control"
   '';
 
   passthru.updateScript = gitUpdater { };
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/a2/a2ps/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/a2/a2ps/package.nix
index 1f4b30713050..3e4510996abc 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/a2/a2ps/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/a2/a2ps/package.nix
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   };
 
   postPatch = ''
-    substituteInPlace afm/make_fonts_map.sh --replace "/bin/rm" "rm"
-    substituteInPlace tests/defs.in --replace "/bin/rm" "rm"
+    substituteInPlace afm/make_fonts_map.sh --replace-fail "/bin/rm" "rm"
+    substituteInPlace tests/defs.in --replace-fail "/bin/rm" "rm"
   '';
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/aa/aaxtomp3/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/aa/aaxtomp3/package.nix
index 8bbd43a58384..4ada59786c08 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/aa/aaxtomp3/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/aa/aaxtomp3/package.nix
@@ -30,10 +30,10 @@ resholve.mkDerivation rec {
 
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace AAXtoMP3 \
-      --replace 'AAXtoMP3' 'aaxtomp3'
+      --replace-fail 'AAXtoMP3' 'aaxtomp3'
     substituteInPlace interactiveAAXtoMP3 \
-      --replace 'AAXtoMP3' 'aaxtomp3' \
-      --replace 'call="./aaxtomp3"' 'call="$AAXTOMP3"'
+      --replace-fail 'AAXtoMP3' 'aaxtomp3' \
+      --replace-fail 'call="./aaxtomp3"' 'call="$AAXTOMP3"'
   '';
 
   installPhase = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ab/abcde/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ab/abcde/package.nix
index 1b64dcbb07e7..1dd5907bb332 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ab/abcde/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ab/abcde/package.nix
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     echo CDROMREADERSYNTAX=cdparanoia >>abcde.conf
 
     substituteInPlace "abcde" \
-      --replace "/etc/abcde.conf" "$out/etc/abcde.conf"
+      --replace-fail "/etc/abcde.conf" "$out/etc/abcde.conf"
 
     runHook postConfigure
   '';
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ab/abi-dumper/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ab/abi-dumper/package.nix
index 1008f350d17f..cb967e29f2b2 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ab/abi-dumper/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ab/abi-dumper/package.nix
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   patchPhase = ''
     substituteInPlace abi-dumper.pl \
-      --replace eu-readelf ${elfutils}/bin/eu-readelf \
-      --replace vtable-dumper ${vtable-dumper}/bin/vtable-dumper \
-      --replace '"ctags"' '"${ctags}/bin/ctags"'
+      --replace-fail eu-readelf ${elfutils}/bin/eu-readelf \
+      --replace-fail vtable-dumper ${vtable-dumper}/bin/vtable-dumper \
+      --replace-fail '"ctags"' '"${ctags}/bin/ctags"'
   '';
 
   buildInputs = [
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ab/abuild/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ab/abuild/package.nix
index 08a377463477..9b083eb24d73 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ab/abuild/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ab/abuild/package.nix
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   patchPhase = ''
     substituteInPlace ./Makefile \
-      --replace 'chmod 4555' '#chmod 4555' \
-      --replace 'pkg-config' "$PKG_CONFIG"
+      --replace-fail 'chmod 4555' '#chmod 4555' \
+      --replace-fail 'pkg-config' "$PKG_CONFIG"
   '';
 
   makeFlags = [
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ac/acme-dns/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ac/acme-dns/package.nix
index 54b27bde9116..52531d21e63e 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ac/acme-dns/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ac/acme-dns/package.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ buildGoModule (finalAttrs: {
 
   postInstall = ''
     install -D -m0444 -t $out/lib/systemd/system ./acme-dns.service
-    substituteInPlace $out/lib/systemd/system/acme-dns.service --replace "/usr/local/bin/acme-dns" "$out/bin/acme-dns"
+    substituteInPlace $out/lib/systemd/system/acme-dns.service --replace-fail "/usr/local/bin/acme-dns" "$out/bin/acme-dns"
   '';
 
   passthru.tests = { inherit (nixosTests) acme-dns; };
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ac/acme/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ac/acme/package.nix
index 3fb043ad15b7..8131a6dcdd99 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ac/acme/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ac/acme/package.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace Makefile \
-      --replace "= gcc" "?= gcc"
+      --replace-fail "= gcc" "?= gcc"
   '';
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ac/acpic/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ac/acpic/package.nix
index 65e31d56a903..762170c1f00e 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ac/acpic/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ac/acpic/package.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ python3Packages.buildPythonApplication (finalAttrs: {
 
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace setup.py \
-      --replace "pbr>=5.8.1,<6" "pbr"
+      --replace-fail "pbr>=5.8.1,<6" "pbr"
   '';
 
   nativeBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ac/acpilight/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ac/acpilight/package.nix
index 737d1e5727ba..79a45f5dbe72 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ac/acpilight/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ac/acpilight/package.nix
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   );
 
   postConfigure = ''
-    substituteInPlace 90-backlight.rules --replace /bin ${coreutils}/bin
-    substituteInPlace Makefile --replace udevadm true
+    substituteInPlace 90-backlight.rules --replace-fail /bin ${coreutils}/bin
+    substituteInPlace Makefile --replace-fail udevadm true
   '';
 
   buildInputs = [ pyenv ];
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ac/activate-linux/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ac/activate-linux/package.nix
index e67d3ccda23f..f76a955d8ddb 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ac/activate-linux/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ac/activate-linux/package.nix
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     install -Dm444 res/icon.png $out/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/activate-linux.png
     install -Dm444 res/activate-linux.desktop -t $out/share/applications
     substituteInPlace $out/share/applications/activate-linux.desktop \
-      --replace 'Icon=icon' 'Icon=activate-linux'
+      --replace-fail 'Icon=icon' 'Icon=activate-linux'
 
     runHook postInstall
   '';
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ac/actkbd/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ac/actkbd/package.nix
index 2916d4dc93f3..6c92b5282a5c 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ac/actkbd/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ac/actkbd/package.nix
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   preConfigure = ''
     substituteInPlace Makefile \
-      --replace /usr/local $out \
-      --replace /etc $out/etc
+      --replace-fail /usr/local $out \
+      --replace-fail /etc $out/etc
   '';
 
   postInstall = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ad/adbfs-rootless/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ad/adbfs-rootless/package.nix
index c899d5dbe569..dfd5429d72c4 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ad/adbfs-rootless/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ad/adbfs-rootless/package.nix
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   postPatch = ''
     # very ugly way of replacing the adb calls
     substituteInPlace adbfs.cpp \
-      --replace '"adb ' '"${android-tools}/bin/adb '
+      --replace-fail '"adb ' '"${android-tools}/bin/adb '
   '';
 
   installPhase = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ad/adcskiller/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ad/adcskiller/package.nix
index 7e3a98567bb2..f7fc354e5cb5 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ad/adcskiller/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ad/adcskiller/package.nix
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ python3.pkgs.buildPythonApplication {
 
     install -vD $pname.py $out/bin/$pname
 
-    substituteInPlace $out/bin/$pname --replace '"Coercer"' '"coercer"'
+    substituteInPlace $out/bin/$pname --replace-fail '"Coercer"' '"coercer"'
 
     runHook postInstall
   '';
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ad/adwaita-qt/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ad/adwaita-qt/package.nix
index 7f2ea1b256f1..050e25173927 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ad/adwaita-qt/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ad/adwaita-qt/package.nix
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   postPatch = ''
     # Fix plugin dir
     substituteInPlace src/style/CMakeLists.txt \
-       --replace "DESTINATION \"\''${QT_PLUGINS_DIR}/styles" "DESTINATION \"$qtPluginPrefix/styles"
+       --replace-fail "DESTINATION \"\''${QT_PLUGINS_DIR}/styles" "DESTINATION \"$qtPluginPrefix/styles"
   '';
 
   passthru = {
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ae/aeolus/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ae/aeolus/package.nix
index 6242734f9045..5ecb4643828c 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ae/aeolus/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ae/aeolus/package.nix
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   postPatch = ''
     sed -i source/Makefile -e /ldconfig/d
-    substituteInPlace source/main.cc --replace /etc/ "$out/etc/"
+    substituteInPlace source/main.cc --replace-fail /etc/ "$out/etc/"
   '';
 
   preBuild = "cd source";
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ae/aescrypt/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ae/aescrypt/package.nix
index eb62d9061d88..346518e34a1c 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ae/aescrypt/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ae/aescrypt/package.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   };
 
   preBuild = ''
-    substituteInPlace src/Makefile --replace "CC=gcc" "CC?=gcc"
+    substituteInPlace src/Makefile --replace-fail "CC=gcc" "CC?=gcc"
     cd src
   '';
 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/af/afterstep/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/af/afterstep/package.nix
index 22e30b1905a7..4fc264ec020e 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/af/afterstep/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/af/afterstep/package.nix
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     # Causes fatal ldconfig cache generation attempt on non-NixOS Linux
     for mkfile in autoconf/Makefile.common.lib.in libAfter{Base,Image}/Makefile.in; do
       substituteInPlace $mkfile \
-        --replace 'test -w /etc' 'false'
+        --replace-fail 'test -w /etc' 'false'
     done
   '';
 
@@ -72,20 +72,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   strictDeps = true;
 
-  # A strange type of bug: dbus is not immediately found by pkg-config
   preConfigure = ''
-    # binutils 2.37 fix
-    # https://github.com/afterstep/afterstep/issues/2
-    fixupList=(
-      "autoconf/Makefile.defines.in"
-      "libAfterImage/aftershow/Makefile.in"
-      "libAfterImage/apps/Makefile.in"
-      "libAfterBase/Makefile.in"
-      "libAfterImage/Makefile.in"
-    )
-    for toFix in "''${fixupList[@]}"; do
-      substituteInPlace "$toFix" --replace "clq" "cq"
-    done
+    # A strange type of bug: dbus is not immediately found by pkg-config
     export NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE="$NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE $(pkg-config dbus-1 --cflags)"
   '';
 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ag/agg/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ag/agg/package.nix
index 698b2ff62037..0af697f604ce 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ag/agg/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ag/agg/package.nix
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace include/agg_renderer_outline_aa.h \
-      --replace 'line_profile_aa& profile() {' 'const line_profile_aa& profile() {'
+      --replace-fail 'line_profile_aa& profile() {' 'const line_profile_aa& profile() {'
   '';
 
   # fix build with new automake, from Gentoo ebuild
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ai/airspy/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ai/airspy/package.nix
index ac8f3f5acabd..6b62f2edbb43 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ai/airspy/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ai/airspy/package.nix
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   ];
 
   postPatch = ''
-    substituteInPlace airspy-tools/CMakeLists.txt --replace "/etc/udev/rules.d" "$out/etc/udev/rules.d"
+    substituteInPlace airspy-tools/CMakeLists.txt --replace-fail "/etc/udev/rules.d" "$out/etc/udev/rules.d"
   '';
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [