diff --git a/include/paths.h b/include/paths.h
index ecba76cf8791..ffeab09bd57c 100644
--- a/include/paths.h
+++ b/include/paths.h
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 #ifndef _PATHS_H_
 #define	_PATHS_H_
 
+#include <sys/cdefs.h>
+
 /* Default search path. */
 #define	_PATH_DEFPATH	"/usr/bin:/bin"
 /* All standard utilities path. */
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@
 #define	_PATH_SENDMAIL	"/usr/sbin/sendmail"
 #define	_PATH_SHELLS	"/etc/shells"
 #define	_PATH_TTY	"/dev/tty"
-#define	_PATH_UNIX	"/kernel"
+#define	_PATH_UNIX	"don't use _PATH_UNIX"
 #define	_PATH_VI	"/usr/bin/vi"
 
 /* Provide trailing slash, since mostly used for building pathnames. */
@@ -66,4 +68,9 @@
 #define	_PATH_VARRUN	"/var/run/"
 #define	_PATH_VARTMP	"/var/tmp/"
 
+/* How to get the correct name of the kernel. */
+__BEGIN_DECLS
+const char *getbootfile __P((void));
+__END_DECLS
+
 #endif /* !_PATHS_H_ */
diff --git a/lib/libkvm/kvm.c b/lib/libkvm/kvm.c
index 56ab485fb364..b8d342b0e753 100644
--- a/lib/libkvm/kvm.c
+++ b/lib/libkvm/kvm.c
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ _kvm_open(kd, uf, mf, sf, flag, errout)
 	kd->argv = 0;
 
 	if (uf == 0)
-		uf = _PATH_UNIX;
+		uf = getbootfile();
 	else if (strlen(uf) >= MAXPATHLEN) {
 		_kvm_err(kd, kd->program, "exec file name too long");
 		goto failed;
diff --git a/lib/libkvm/kvm_open.3 b/lib/libkvm/kvm_open.3
index dd6895b417d4..7e604a150b92 100644
--- a/lib/libkvm/kvm_open.3
+++ b/lib/libkvm/kvm_open.3
@@ -70,9 +70,8 @@ This file must contain a symbol table.
 If this argument is
 .Dv NULL ,
 the currently running system is assumed,
-which is indicated by
-.Dv _PATH_UNIX
-in <paths.h>.
+as determined from
+.Xr getbootfile 3 .
 .Pp
 .Fa corefile 
 is the kernel memory device file.  It can be either /dev/mem
diff --git a/sbin/savecore/savecore.8 b/sbin/savecore/savecore.8
index 3fca145f9fc8..47e0a340b81a 100644
--- a/sbin/savecore/savecore.8
+++ b/sbin/savecore/savecore.8
@@ -29,9 +29,10 @@
 .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
 .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
-.\"     @(#)savecore.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93
+.\"     From: @(#)savecore.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93
+.\"	$Id$
 .\"
-.Dd June 5, 1993
+.Dd September 23, 1994
 .Dt SAVECORE 8
 .Os BSD 4
 .Sh NAME
@@ -63,7 +64,8 @@ is insufficient disk space.
 .It Fl N
 Use
 .Ar system
-as the kernel instead of the default ``/kernel''.
+as the kernel instead of the running kernel (as determined from
+.Xr getbootfile 3 )
 .It Fl v
 Prints out some additional debugging information.
 .It Fl z
@@ -106,16 +108,11 @@ is meant to be called near the end of the initialization file
 .Pa /etc/rc
 (see
 .Xr rc 8 ) .
-.Sh FILES
-.Bl -tag -width /kernelxx -compact
-.It Pa /kernel
-current
-.Tn UNIX
-.El
 .Sh BUGS
 The minfree code does not consider the effect of compression.
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr compress 1 ,
+.Xr getbootfile 3 ,
 .Xr syslogd 8
 .Sh HISTORY
 The
diff --git a/sbin/savecore/savecore.c b/sbin/savecore/savecore.c
index 59e0ff555ab3..2c690018b740 100644
--- a/sbin/savecore/savecore.c
+++ b/sbin/savecore/savecore.c
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ int	 get_crashtime __P((void));
 void	 kmem_setup __P((void));
 void	 log __P((int, char *, ...));
 void	 Lseek __P((int, off_t, int));
-int	 Open __P((char *, int rw));
+int	 Open __P((const char *, int rw));
 int	 Read __P((int, void *, int));
 char	*rawname __P((char *s));
 void	 save_core __P((void));
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ kmem_setup()
 {
 	FILE *fp;
 	int kmem, i;
-	char *dump_sys;
+	const char *dump_sys;
 	
 	/*
 	 * Some names we need for the currently running system, others for
@@ -212,16 +212,17 @@ kmem_setup()
 	 * presumed to be the same (since the disk partitions are probably
 	 * the same!)
 	 */
-	if ((nlist(_PATH_UNIX, current_nl)) == -1)
-		syslog(LOG_ERR, "%s: nlist: %s", _PATH_UNIX, strerror(errno));
+	if ((nlist(getbootfile(), current_nl)) == -1)
+		syslog(LOG_ERR, "%s: nlist: %s", getbootfile(), 
+		       strerror(errno));
 	for (i = 0; cursyms[i] != -1; i++)
 		if (current_nl[cursyms[i]].n_value == 0) {
 			syslog(LOG_ERR, "%s: %s not in namelist",
-			    _PATH_UNIX, current_nl[cursyms[i]].n_name);
+			    getbootfile(), current_nl[cursyms[i]].n_name);
 			exit(1);
 		}
 
-	dump_sys = kernel ? kernel : _PATH_UNIX;
+	dump_sys = kernel ? kernel : getbootfile();
 	if ((nlist(dump_sys, dump_nl)) == -1)
 		syslog(LOG_ERR, "%s: nlist: %s", dump_sys, strerror(errno));
 	for (i = 0; dumpsyms[i] != -1; i++)
@@ -278,7 +279,7 @@ check_kmem()
 	if (strcmp(vers, core_vers) && kernel == 0)
 		syslog(LOG_WARNING,
 		    "warning: %s version mismatch:\n\t%s\nand\t%s\n",
-		    _PATH_UNIX, vers, core_vers);
+		    getbootfile(), vers, core_vers);
 	(void)fseek(fp,
 	    (off_t)(dumplo + ok(dump_nl[X_PANICSTR].n_value)), L_SET);
 	(void)fread(&panicstr, sizeof(panicstr), 1, fp);
@@ -413,7 +414,7 @@ err2:			syslog(LOG_WARNING,
 		(void)close(ofd);
 
 	/* Copy the kernel. */
-	ifd = Open(kernel ? kernel : _PATH_UNIX, O_RDONLY);
+	ifd = Open(kernel ? kernel : getbootfile(), O_RDONLY);
 	(void)snprintf(path, sizeof(path), "%s/kernel.%d%s",
 	    dirname, bounds, compress ? ".Z" : "");
 	if (compress) {
@@ -440,7 +441,7 @@ err2:			syslog(LOG_WARNING,
 	}
 	if (nr < 0) {
 		syslog(LOG_ERR, "%s: %s",
-		    kernel ? kernel : _PATH_UNIX, strerror(errno));
+		    kernel ? kernel : getbootfile(), strerror(errno));
 		syslog(LOG_WARNING,
 		    "WARNING: kernel may be incomplete");
 		exit(1);
@@ -532,13 +533,13 @@ int
 check_space()
 {
 	register FILE *fp;
-	char *tkernel;
+	const char *tkernel;
 	off_t minfree, spacefree, kernelsize, needed;
 	struct stat st;
 	struct statfs fsbuf;
 	char buf[100], path[MAXPATHLEN];
 
-	tkernel = kernel ? kernel : _PATH_UNIX;
+	tkernel = kernel ? kernel : getbootfile();
 	if (stat(tkernel, &st) < 0) {
 		syslog(LOG_ERR, "%s: %m", tkernel);
 		exit(1);
@@ -575,7 +576,7 @@ check_space()
 
 int
 Open(name, rw)
-	char *name;
+	const char *name;
 	int rw;
 {
 	int fd;
diff --git a/usr.bin/systat/disks.c b/usr.bin/systat/disks.c
index 24606a3af444..5cb5c4db72e7 100644
--- a/usr.bin/systat/disks.c
+++ b/usr.bin/systat/disks.c
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ dkinit()
 	}
 	NREAD(X_DK_NDRIVE, &dk_ndrive, LONG);
 	if (dk_ndrive <= 0) {
-		error("dk_ndrive=%d according to %s", dk_ndrive, _PATH_UNIX);
+		error("dk_ndrive=%d according to %s", dk_ndrive, getbootfile());
 		return(0);
 	}
 	dk_mspw = (float *)calloc(dk_ndrive, sizeof (float));
diff --git a/usr.bin/systat/mbufs.c b/usr.bin/systat/mbufs.c
index 4b5ca668228d..8056f4509b6d 100644
--- a/usr.bin/systat/mbufs.c
+++ b/usr.bin/systat/mbufs.c
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ initmbufs()
 			return(0);
 		}
 		if (namelist[X_MBSTAT].n_type == 0) {
-			error("namelist on %s failed", _PATH_UNIX);
+			error("namelist on %s failed", getbootfile());
 			return(0);
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/usr.sbin/kgmon/kgmon.c b/usr.sbin/kgmon/kgmon.c
index 1265ce283f1a..cf75723d9c60 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/kgmon/kgmon.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/kgmon/kgmon.c
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	}
 #endif
 	if (system == NULL)
-		system = _PATH_UNIX;
+		system = (char *)getbootfile();
 	accessmode = openfiles(system, kmemf, &kvmvars);
 	mode = getprof(&kvmvars);
 	if (hflag)
diff --git a/usr.sbin/kvm_mkdb/kvm_mkdb.c b/usr.sbin/kvm_mkdb/kvm_mkdb.c
index f80b109356e1..23153528bf85 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/kvm_mkdb/kvm_mkdb.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/kvm_mkdb/kvm_mkdb.c
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ main(argc, argv)
 		exit(0);
 
 #define	basename(cp)	((p = rindex((cp), '/')) != NULL ? p + 1 : (cp))
-	nlistpath = argc > 0 ? argv[0] : _PATH_UNIX;
+	nlistpath = argc > 0 ? argv[0] : (char *)getbootfile();
 	nlistname = basename(nlistpath);
 
 	(void)snprintf(dbtemp, sizeof(dbtemp), "%skvm_%s.tmp",
diff --git a/usr.sbin/kvm_mkdb/testdb.c b/usr.sbin/kvm_mkdb/testdb.c
index f4f3bf03ead6..fe4581e76e65 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/kvm_mkdb/testdb.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/kvm_mkdb/testdb.c
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ testdb()
 	if ((kd = open(_PATH_KMEM, O_RDONLY, 0)) < 0)
 		goto close;
 
-	uf = _PATH_UNIX;
+	uf = (char *)getbootfile();
 	if ((cp = rindex(uf, '/')) != 0)
 		uf = cp + 1;
 	(void) snprintf(dbname, sizeof(dbname), "%skvm_%s.db", _PATH_VARDB, uf);
diff --git a/usr.sbin/trpt/trpt.c b/usr.sbin/trpt/trpt.c
index 7452cdd9bf8f..ef1857043624 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/trpt/trpt.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/trpt/trpt.c
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ main(argc, argv)
 		setgid(getgid());
 	}
 	else
-		system = _PATH_UNIX;
+		system = (char *)getbootfile();
 
 	if (nlist(system, nl) < 0 || !nl[0].n_value) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "trpt: %s: no namelist\n", system);
diff --git a/usr.sbin/trsp/trsp.c b/usr.sbin/trsp/trsp.c
index c2c0267d71f0..7548c58db76a 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/trsp/trsp.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/trsp/trsp.c
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ main(argc, argv)
 	int i, mask = 0, npcbs = 0;
 	char *system, *core;
 
-	system = _PATH_UNIX;
+	system = (char *)getbootfile();
 	core = _PATH_KMEM;
 
 	argc--, argv++;
diff --git a/usr.sbin/xntpd/util/tickadj.c b/usr.sbin/xntpd/util/tickadj.c
index 1d7ba66767ec..9bc8f353d2ad 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/xntpd/util/tickadj.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/xntpd/util/tickadj.c
@@ -420,9 +420,9 @@ getoffsets(filex, tick_off, tickadj_off, dosync_off, noprintf_off)
 		{""},
 	};
 #endif
-	static char *kernels[] = {
-#ifdef _PATH_UNIX
-		_PATH_UNIX,
+	char *kernels[] = {
+#if __FreeBSD__ > 2
+		(char *)getbootfile(),
 #endif
 		"/vmunix",
 		"/unix",