diff --git a/sys/kern/kern_linker.c b/sys/kern/kern_linker.c
index 9fce59510cae..55913425677b 100644
--- a/sys/kern/kern_linker.c
+++ b/sys/kern/kern_linker.c
@@ -1171,11 +1171,15 @@ SYSINIT(preload, SI_SUB_KLD, SI_ORDER_MIDDLE, linker_preload, 0);
  * character as a separator to be consistent with the bootloader.
  */
 
-static char linker_path[MAXPATHLEN] = "/boot/modules/;/modules/;/boot/kernel/";
+static char def_linker_path[] = "/boot/modules/;/modules/;/boot/kernel/";
+static char linker_path[MAXPATHLEN] = "";
 
 SYSCTL_STRING(_kern, OID_AUTO, module_path, CTLFLAG_RW, linker_path,
 	      sizeof(linker_path), "module load search path");
 
+TUNABLE_STR_DECL("module_path", def_linker_path, linker_path,
+		 sizeof(linker_path));
+
 static char *linker_ext_list[] = {
 	".ko",
 	"",
@@ -1211,14 +1215,14 @@ linker_search_path(const char *name)
 	/* find the end of this component */
 	for (ep = cp; (*ep != 0) && (*ep != ';'); ep++)
 	    ;
-	result = malloc((len + (ep - cp) + extlen), M_LINKER, M_WAITOK);
+	result = malloc((len + (ep - cp) + extlen + 1), M_LINKER, M_WAITOK);
 	if (result == NULL)	/* actually ENOMEM */
 	    return(NULL);
 	for (cpp = linker_ext_list; *cpp; cpp++) {
 	    strncpy(result, cp, ep - cp);
-	    strcpy(result + (ep - cp), name);
+	    strcpy(result + (ep - cp), "/");
+	    strcat(result, name);
 	    strcat(result, *cpp);
-
 	    /*
 	     * Attempt to open the file, and return the path if we succeed
 	     * and it's a regular file.
diff --git a/sys/sys/kernel.h b/sys/sys/kernel.h
index 7474b424bff9..48acdffeba13 100644
--- a/sys/sys/kernel.h
+++ b/sys/sys/kernel.h
@@ -265,6 +265,28 @@ SYSINIT(__Tunable_init_ ## var, SI_SUB_TUNABLES, SI_ORDER_MIDDLE, __Tunable_ ##
     if (!getenv_int((path), &(var)))		\
        (var) = (defval);
 
+#define TUNABLE_STR_DECL(path, defval, var, size)	\
+static void __Tunable_ ## var (void *ignored)		\
+{							\
+    char *tmp;						\
+    tmp = getenv((path));				\
+    if (tmp == NULL)					\
+       tmp = (defval);					\
+    strncpy((var), tmp, (size));			\
+    (var)[(size)] = 0;					\
+}							\
+SYSINIT(__Tunable_init_ ## var, SI_SUB_TUNABLES, SI_ORDER_MIDDLE, __Tunable_ ## var , NULL);
+
+#define TUNABLE_STR_FETCH(path, defval, var, size)	\
+static void __Tunable_ ## var (void *ignored)		\
+{							\
+    char *tmp;						\
+    tmp = getenv((path));				\
+    if (tmp == NULL)					\
+       tmp = (defval);					\
+    strncpy((var), tmp, (size));			\
+    (var)[(size)] = 0;					\
+}
 
 /*
  * Compatibility.  To be deprecated after LKM is removed.