diff --git a/libc-test/build/main.rs b/libc-test/build/main.rs
index 9cc1aa565e93..490f0f2c84c2 100755
--- a/libc-test/build/main.rs
+++ b/libc-test/build/main.rs
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@ fn test_apple(t: &Target) {
         "os/lock.h",
         "os/signpost.h",
         "os/os_sync_wait_on_address.h",
+        "paths.h",
         "poll.h",
         "pthread.h",
         "pthread_spis.h",
@@ -473,6 +474,7 @@ fn test_openbsd(t: &Target) {
         "sys/shm.h",
         "sys/param.h",
         "sys/auxv.h",
+        "paths.h",
     );
 
     cfg.rename_type(|ty| match ty {
@@ -574,6 +576,7 @@ fn test_cygwin(t: &Target) {
         "net/if.h",
         "netdb.h",
         "netinet/tcp.h",
+        "paths.h",
         "poll.h",
         "pthread.h",
         "pty.h",
@@ -875,6 +878,7 @@ fn test_redox(t: &Target) {
         "netinet/in.h",
         "netinet/ip.h",
         "netinet/tcp.h",
+        "paths.h",
         "poll.h",
         "pwd.h",
         "semaphore.h",
@@ -1303,6 +1307,7 @@ fn test_netbsd(t: &Target) {
         "iconv.h",
         "utmp.h",
         "utmpx.h",
+        "paths.h",
     );
 
     cfg.rename_type(move |ty| {
@@ -1546,6 +1551,7 @@ fn test_dragonflybsd(t: &Target) {
         "netinet/ip.h",
         "netinet/tcp.h",
         "netinet/udp.h",
+        "paths.h",
         "poll.h",
         "pthread.h",
         "pthread_np.h",
@@ -2077,6 +2083,7 @@ fn test_android(t: &Target) {
         // generate the error 'Your time_t is already 64-bit'
         (t.p32(), "time64.h"),
         (x86, "sys/reg.h"),
+        "paths.h",
     );
 
     // Include linux headers at the end:
@@ -2560,6 +2567,7 @@ fn test_freebsd(t: &Target) {
         "netinet/tcp.h",
         "netinet/udp.h",
         "netinet6/in6_var.h",
+        "paths.h",
         "poll.h",
         "pthread.h",
         "pthread_np.h",
@@ -3247,6 +3255,7 @@ fn test_emscripten(t: &Target) {
         "utmp.h",
         "utmpx.h",
         "wchar.h",
+        "paths.h",
     );
 
     cfg.rename_struct_ty(move |ty| {
@@ -4106,6 +4115,7 @@ fn test_linux(t: &Target) {
         // https://www.openwall.com/lists/musl/2015/04/09/3
         // <execinfo.h> is not present on uclibc.
         (!(musl || uclibc), "execinfo.h"),
+        "paths.h",
     );
 
     // Include linux headers at the end:
@@ -5494,6 +5504,7 @@ fn test_haiku(t: &Target) {
         "netinet6/in6.h",
         "nl_types.h",
         "null.h",
+        "paths.h",
         "poll.h",
         "pthread.h",
         "pwd.h",
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/android.txt b/libc-test/semver/android.txt
index 80cc88cfd7d2..bd838a4e4676 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/android.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/android.txt
@@ -3175,6 +3175,8 @@ X_OK
 _IOFBF
 _IOLBF
 _IONBF
+_PATH_BSHELL
+_PATH_DEFPATH
 _PC_2_SYMLINKS
 _PC_ALLOC_SIZE_MIN
 _PC_ASYNC_IO
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/apple.txt b/libc-test/semver/apple.txt
index 23ecfd6c1950..52f0c2afe1f3 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/apple.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/apple.txt
@@ -1627,6 +1627,8 @@ _NSGetArgc
 _NSGetArgv
 _NSGetEnviron
 _NSGetProgname
+_PATH_BSHELL
+_PATH_DEFPATH
 _PC_2_SYMLINKS
 _PC_ALLOC_SIZE_MIN
 _PC_ASYNC_IO
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/cygwin.txt b/libc-test/semver/cygwin.txt
index 691271e61ac7..6fa71843e308 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/cygwin.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/cygwin.txt
@@ -472,6 +472,8 @@ WINDOWS_SEND
 XTABS
 _CS_PATH
 _IONBF
+_PATH_BSHELL
+_PATH_DEFPATH
 _PC_2_SYMLINKS
 _PC_ALLOC_SIZE_MIN
 _PC_ASYNC_IO
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/dragonfly.txt b/libc-test/semver/dragonfly.txt
index 6a14a615b8bb..aa69de5cbadc 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/dragonfly.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/dragonfly.txt
@@ -1171,6 +1171,8 @@ _CS_PATH
 _IOFBF
 _IOLBF
 _IONBF
+_PATH_BSHELL
+_PATH_DEFPATH
 _PC_2_SYMLINKS
 _PC_ACL_EXTENDED
 _PC_ACL_PATH_MAX
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/espidf.txt b/libc-test/semver/espidf.txt
index f9f9089b9e37..df8bd8b8037e 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/espidf.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/espidf.txt
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ SIGSEGV
 SIGTERM
 SOL_SOCKET
 SOMAXCONN
+_PATH_BSHELL
 __errno
 cmsghdr
 dirent
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/freebsd.txt b/libc-test/semver/freebsd.txt
index 252f7fff4686..f905fc33f084 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/freebsd.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/freebsd.txt
@@ -1766,6 +1766,8 @@ _IOR
 _IOW
 _IOWINT
 _IOWR
+_PATH_BSHELL
+_PATH_DEFPATH
 _PC_ACL_EXTENDED
 _PC_ACL_NFS4
 _PC_ACL_PATH_MAX
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/linux.txt b/libc-test/semver/linux.txt
index a97e1a31f836..71b5ebcca04d 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/linux.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/linux.txt
@@ -3873,6 +3873,8 @@ _IONBF
 _IOR
 _IOW
 _IOWR
+_PATH_BSHELL
+_PATH_DEFPATH
 _PC_2_SYMLINKS
 _PC_ALLOC_SIZE_MIN
 _PC_ASYNC_IO
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/netbsd.txt b/libc-test/semver/netbsd.txt
index 1169ec12b012..9e5c18f1ce67 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/netbsd.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/netbsd.txt
@@ -1127,6 +1127,8 @@ _IONBF
 _IOR
 _IOW
 _IOWR
+_PATH_BSHELL
+_PATH_DEFPATH
 _PC_2_SYMLINKS
 _PC_ACL_EXTENDED
 _PC_FILESIZEBITS
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/openbsd.txt b/libc-test/semver/openbsd.txt
index f7933a856d64..5fc4cb13add7 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/openbsd.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/openbsd.txt
@@ -985,6 +985,8 @@ _IOR
 _IOW
 _IOWR
 _MAX_PAGE_SHIFT
+_PATH_BSHELL
+_PATH_DEFPATH
 _PC_2_SYMLINKS
 _PC_ALLOC_SIZE_MIN
 _PC_ASYNC_IO
diff --git a/libc-test/semver/redox.txt b/libc-test/semver/redox.txt
index 8753284191f4..f308714962bc 100644
--- a/libc-test/semver/redox.txt
+++ b/libc-test/semver/redox.txt
@@ -258,6 +258,7 @@ _CS_POSIX_V7_WIDTH_RESTRICTED_ENVS
 _IOFBF
 _IOLBF
 _IONBF
+_PATH_BSHELL
 _PC_2_SYMLINKS
 _PC_ALLOC_SIZE_MIN
 _PC_ASYNC_IO
diff --git a/src/macros.rs b/src/macros.rs
index 6e5aafd63740..a8b38a0d6cff 100644
--- a/src/macros.rs
+++ b/src/macros.rs
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ macro_rules! prelude {
             pub(crate) use crate::types::u32_cast_ioctl;
             #[allow(unused_imports)]
             pub(crate) use crate::types::{
+                cstr,
                 replace_array_items,
                 u16_cast_short,
                 u32_cast_int,
diff --git a/src/types.rs b/src/types.rs
index 7be6e78bce3f..96322d3d3954 100644
--- a/src/types.rs
+++ b/src/types.rs
@@ -138,3 +138,11 @@ pub const fn replace_array_items<T: Copy, const N: usize>(
     }
     dst
 }
+
+/// Constructs a compile time cstring literal from a byte array
+// FIXME(msrv): we can opt to use C-string literals directly in 1.77
+#[allow(dead_code)]
+pub(crate) const fn cstr(bytes: &[u8]) -> *const c_char {
+    assert!(!bytes.is_empty() && bytes[bytes.len() - 1] == 0);
+    bytes.as_ptr().cast::<c_char>()
+}
diff --git a/src/unix/bsd/apple/mod.rs b/src/unix/bsd/apple/mod.rs
index 9cbf2c807a35..cb26571b690e 100644
--- a/src/unix/bsd/apple/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/bsd/apple/mod.rs
@@ -4111,6 +4111,10 @@ pub const VMADDR_CID_RESERVED: c_uint = 1;
 pub const VMADDR_CID_HOST: c_uint = 2;
 pub const VMADDR_PORT_ANY: c_uint = 0xFFFFFFFF;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(b"/usr/bin:/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 const fn __DARWIN_ALIGN32(p: usize) -> usize {
     const __DARWIN_ALIGNBYTES32: usize = size_of::<u32>() - 1;
     (p + __DARWIN_ALIGNBYTES32) & !__DARWIN_ALIGNBYTES32
diff --git a/src/unix/bsd/freebsdlike/dragonfly/mod.rs b/src/unix/bsd/freebsdlike/dragonfly/mod.rs
index 17610214e5e6..54511cf013f2 100644
--- a/src/unix/bsd/freebsdlike/dragonfly/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/bsd/freebsdlike/dragonfly/mod.rs
@@ -1232,6 +1232,12 @@ pub const RTAX_MPLS3: c_int = 10;
 /// for details.
 pub const RTAX_MAX: c_int = 11;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(
+    b"/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin:/usr/pkg/sbin\0",
+);
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 const fn _CMSG_ALIGN(n: usize) -> usize {
     (n + (size_of::<c_long>() - 1)) & !(size_of::<c_long>() - 1)
 }
diff --git a/src/unix/bsd/freebsdlike/freebsd/mod.rs b/src/unix/bsd/freebsdlike/freebsd/mod.rs
index 2d9e00c49a63..395839932cd4 100644
--- a/src/unix/bsd/freebsdlike/freebsd/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/bsd/freebsdlike/freebsd/mod.rs
@@ -4318,6 +4318,11 @@ const fn _ALIGN(p: usize) -> usize {
     (p + _ALIGNBYTES) & !_ALIGNBYTES
 }
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char =
+    cstr(b"/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 f! {
     pub unsafe fn CMSG_DATA(cmsg: *const cmsghdr) -> *mut c_uchar {
         (cmsg as *mut c_uchar).add(_ALIGN(size_of::<cmsghdr>()))
diff --git a/src/unix/bsd/netbsdlike/netbsd/mod.rs b/src/unix/bsd/netbsdlike/netbsd/mod.rs
index 8b7bfd24824c..e7fa6cdc2359 100644
--- a/src/unix/bsd/netbsdlike/netbsd/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/bsd/netbsdlike/netbsd/mod.rs
@@ -1813,6 +1813,10 @@ const fn _ALIGN(p: usize) -> usize {
     (p + _ALIGNBYTES) & !_ALIGNBYTES
 }
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(b"/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/pkg/bin:/usr/local/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 f! {
     pub unsafe fn CMSG_DATA(cmsg: *const cmsghdr) -> *mut c_uchar {
         (cmsg as *mut c_uchar).add(_ALIGN(size_of::<cmsghdr>()))
diff --git a/src/unix/bsd/netbsdlike/openbsd/mod.rs b/src/unix/bsd/netbsdlike/openbsd/mod.rs
index 89348d7ec156..220bd0cb3dc8 100644
--- a/src/unix/bsd/netbsdlike/openbsd/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/bsd/netbsdlike/openbsd/mod.rs
@@ -1831,6 +1831,11 @@ const fn _ALIGN(p: usize) -> usize {
     (p + _ALIGNBYTES) & !_ALIGNBYTES
 }
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char =
+    cstr(b"/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 f! {
     pub unsafe fn CMSG_DATA(cmsg: *const cmsghdr) -> *mut c_uchar {
         (cmsg as *mut c_uchar).offset(_ALIGN(size_of::<cmsghdr>()) as isize)
diff --git a/src/unix/cygwin/mod.rs b/src/unix/cygwin/mod.rs
index 5645bdd2b2dc..6681080e81d6 100644
--- a/src/unix/cygwin/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/cygwin/mod.rs
@@ -1678,6 +1678,10 @@ pub const FALLOC_FL_COLLAPSE_RANGE: c_int = 0x0008;
 pub const FALLOC_FL_INSERT_RANGE: c_int = 0x0010;
 pub const FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE: c_int = 0x1000;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 f! {
     pub unsafe fn FD_CLR(fd: c_int, set: *mut fd_set) -> () {
         let fd = fd as usize;
diff --git a/src/unix/haiku/mod.rs b/src/unix/haiku/mod.rs
index a98e4b17bcce..cb0b3393e7ff 100644
--- a/src/unix/haiku/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/haiku/mod.rs
@@ -1386,6 +1386,10 @@ pub const POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGDEF: c_short = 0x10;
 pub const POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGMASK: c_short = 0x20;
 pub const POSIX_SPAWN_SETSID: c_short = 0x40;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(b"/usr/bin:/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 const fn CMSG_ALIGN(len: usize) -> usize {
     len + size_of::<usize>() - 1 & !(size_of::<usize>() - 1)
 }
diff --git a/src/unix/linux_like/android/mod.rs b/src/unix/linux_like/android/mod.rs
index 3173c04a1343..872f9426aae1 100644
--- a/src/unix/linux_like/android/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/linux_like/android/mod.rs
@@ -3410,6 +3410,14 @@ pub const RWF_NOAPPEND: c_int = 0x00000020;
 pub const RWF_ATOMIC: c_int = 0x00000040;
 pub const RWF_DONTCACHE: c_int = 0x00000080;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(
+    b"/product/bin:/apex/com.android.runtime/bin:\
+    /apex/com.android.art/bin:/system_ext/bin:/system/bin:\
+    /system/xbin:/odm/bin:/vendor/bin:/vendor/xbin\0",
+);
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/system/bin/sh\0");
+
 // Most `*_SUPER_MAGIC` constants are defined at the `linux_like` level; the
 // following are only available on newer Linux versions than the versions
 // currently used in CI in some configurations, so we define them here.
diff --git a/src/unix/linux_like/emscripten/mod.rs b/src/unix/linux_like/emscripten/mod.rs
index 73b6cf71f11b..f06e99fa8873 100644
--- a/src/unix/linux_like/emscripten/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/linux_like/emscripten/mod.rs
@@ -1279,6 +1279,10 @@ pub const PRIO_USER: c_int = 2;
 
 pub const SOMAXCONN: c_int = 128;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(b"/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 f! {
     pub unsafe fn CMSG_NXTHDR(mhdr: *const msghdr, cmsg: *const cmsghdr) -> *mut cmsghdr {
         if ((*cmsg).cmsg_len as usize) < size_of::<cmsghdr>() {
diff --git a/src/unix/linux_like/l4re/uclibc/mod.rs b/src/unix/linux_like/l4re/uclibc/mod.rs
index 5d819e0212a6..7e5aa699f0f5 100644
--- a/src/unix/linux_like/l4re/uclibc/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/linux_like/l4re/uclibc/mod.rs
@@ -478,6 +478,10 @@ pub const PTHREAD_MUTEX_ADAPTIVE_NP: c_int = 3;
 
 pub const __LT_SPINLOCK_INIT: c_int = 0;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(b"/usr/bin:/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 pub const __LOCK_INITIALIZER: _pthread_fastlock = _pthread_fastlock {
     __status: 0,
     __spinlock: __LT_SPINLOCK_INIT,
diff --git a/src/unix/linux_like/linux/gnu/mod.rs b/src/unix/linux_like/linux/gnu/mod.rs
index 5202303d196c..ba5b0b9f0841 100644
--- a/src/unix/linux_like/linux/gnu/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/linux_like/linux/gnu/mod.rs
@@ -944,6 +944,10 @@ pub const GLOB_TILDE_CHECK: c_int = 1 << 14;
 
 pub const MADV_COLLAPSE: c_int = 25;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(b"/usr/bin:/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 cfg_if! {
     if #[cfg(any(
         target_arch = "arm",
diff --git a/src/unix/linux_like/linux/musl/mod.rs b/src/unix/linux_like/linux/musl/mod.rs
index d301713cd8fe..c8db3875d4b3 100644
--- a/src/unix/linux_like/linux/musl/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/linux_like/linux/musl/mod.rs
@@ -790,6 +790,10 @@ pub const UT_HOSTSIZE: usize = 256;
 pub const UT_LINESIZE: usize = 32;
 pub const UT_NAMESIZE: usize = 32;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(b"/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 cfg_if! {
     if #[cfg(target_arch = "s390x")] {
         pub const POSIX_FADV_DONTNEED: c_int = 6;
diff --git a/src/unix/linux_like/linux/uclibc/mod.rs b/src/unix/linux_like/linux/uclibc/mod.rs
index dd54a15e25fb..7b2299b4b317 100644
--- a/src/unix/linux_like/linux/uclibc/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/linux_like/linux/uclibc/mod.rs
@@ -335,6 +335,10 @@ pub const TCP_COOKIE_TRANSACTIONS: c_int = 15;
 pub const UDP_GRO: c_int = 104;
 pub const UDP_SEGMENT: c_int = 103;
 
+// include/paths.h
+pub const _PATH_DEFPATH: *const c_char = cstr(b"/usr/bin:/bin\0");
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 extern "C" {
     pub fn gettimeofday(tp: *mut crate::timeval, tz: *mut crate::timezone) -> c_int;
 
diff --git a/src/unix/newlib/mod.rs b/src/unix/newlib/mod.rs
index f5c7396d67d9..211027239f95 100644
--- a/src/unix/newlib/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/newlib/mod.rs
@@ -842,6 +842,9 @@ pub const PRIO_PROCESS: c_int = 0;
 pub const PRIO_PGRP: c_int = 1;
 pub const PRIO_USER: c_int = 2;
 
+// include/paths.h from newlib's libc
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 f! {
     pub unsafe fn FD_CLR(fd: c_int, set: *mut fd_set) -> () {
         let bits = size_of_val(&(*set).fds_bits[0]) * 8;
diff --git a/src/unix/redox/mod.rs b/src/unix/redox/mod.rs
index d092f0eee904..5ba06617fb2a 100644
--- a/src/unix/redox/mod.rs
+++ b/src/unix/redox/mod.rs
@@ -1102,6 +1102,9 @@ pub const PRIO_USER: c_int = 2;
 
 pub const RENAME_NOREPLACE: c_uint = 1;
 
+// include/paths.h from relibc
+pub const _PATH_BSHELL: *const c_char = cstr(b"/bin/sh\0");
+
 f! {
     //sys/socket.h
     pub const unsafe fn CMSG_ALIGN(len: size_t) -> size_t {