diff --git a/sys/kern/exec_elf.c b/sys/kern/exec_elf.c
index 2f031aa5ace0..0a4e52464ff4 100644
--- a/sys/kern/exec_elf.c
+++ b/sys/kern/exec_elf.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: exec_elf.c,v 1.92 2017/10/16 01:50:55 christos Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: exec_elf.c,v 1.93 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 1994, 2000, 2005, 2015 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <sys/cdefs.h>
-__KERNEL_RCSID(1, "$NetBSD: exec_elf.c,v 1.92 2017/10/16 01:50:55 christos Exp $");
+__KERNEL_RCSID(1, "$NetBSD: exec_elf.c,v 1.93 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $");
 
 #ifdef _KERNEL_OPT
 #include "opt_pax.h"
@@ -226,11 +226,9 @@ elf_copyargs(struct lwp *l, struct exec_package *pack,
 		a->a_v = l->l_proc->p_stackbase;
 		a++;
 
-		if (pack->ep_path) {
-			execname = a;
-			a->a_type = AT_SUN_EXECNAME;
-			a++;
-		}
+		execname = a;
+		a->a_type = AT_SUN_EXECNAME;
+		a++;
 
 		exec_free_emul_arg(pack);
 	}
@@ -243,15 +241,12 @@ elf_copyargs(struct lwp *l, struct exec_package *pack,
 
 	KASSERT(vlen <= sizeof(ai));
 
-	if (execname) {
-		char *path = pack->ep_path;
-		execname->a_v = (uintptr_t)(*stackp + vlen);
-		len = strlen(path) + 1;
-		if ((error = copyout(path, (*stackp + vlen), len)) != 0)
-			return error;
-		len = ALIGN(len);
-	} else
-		len = 0;
+	char *path = l->l_proc->p_path;
+	execname->a_v = (uintptr_t)(*stackp + vlen);
+	len = strlen(path) + 1;
+	if ((error = copyout(path, (*stackp + vlen), len)) != 0)
+		return error;
+	len = ALIGN(len);
 
 	if ((error = copyout(ai, *stackp, vlen)) != 0)
 		return error;
diff --git a/sys/kern/kern_exec.c b/sys/kern/kern_exec.c
index 65403bf58075..39ce8c77f734 100644
--- a/sys/kern/kern_exec.c
+++ b/sys/kern/kern_exec.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: kern_exec.c,v 1.449 2017/10/20 19:06:46 riastradh Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: kern_exec.c,v 1.450 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 2008 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <sys/cdefs.h>
-__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: kern_exec.c,v 1.449 2017/10/20 19:06:46 riastradh Exp $");
+__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: kern_exec.c,v 1.450 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $");
 
 #include "opt_exec.h"
 #include "opt_execfmt.h"
@@ -925,55 +925,15 @@ execve_free_data(struct execve_data *data)
 }
 
 static void
-pathexec(struct exec_package *epp, struct lwp *l, const char *pathstring)
+pathexec(struct proc *p, const char *resolvedname)
 {
-	const char		*commandname;
-	size_t			commandlen;
-	char			*path;
-	struct proc 		*p = l->l_proc;
+	KASSERT(resolvedname[0] == '/');
 
 	/* set command name & other accounting info */
-	commandname = strrchr(epp->ep_resolvedname, '/');
-	if (commandname != NULL) {
-		commandname++;
-	} else {
-		commandname = epp->ep_resolvedname;
-	}
-	commandlen = min(strlen(commandname), MAXCOMLEN);
-	(void)memcpy(p->p_comm, commandname, commandlen);
-	p->p_comm[commandlen] = '\0';
+	strlcpy(p->p_comm, strrchr(resolvedname, '/') + 1, sizeof(p->p_comm));
 
-
-	/*
-	 * If the path starts with /, we don't need to do any work.
-	 * This handles the majority of the cases.
-	 * In the future perhaps we could canonicalize it?
-	 */
-	path = PNBUF_GET();
-	if (pathstring[0] == '/') {
-		(void)strlcpy(path, pathstring, MAXPATHLEN);
-		epp->ep_path = path;
-	}
-#ifdef notyet
-	/*
-	 * Although this works most of the time [since the entry was just
-	 * entered in the cache] we don't use it because it will fail for
-	 * entries that are not placed in the cache because their name is
-	 * longer than NCHNAMLEN and it is not the cleanest interface,
-	 * because there could be races. When the namei cache is re-written,
-	 * this can be changed to use the appropriate function.
-	 */
-	else if (!(error = vnode_to_path(path, MAXPATHLEN, p->p_textvp, l, p)))
-		epp->ep_path = path;
-#endif
-	else {
-#ifdef notyet
-		printf("Cannot get path for pid %d [%s] (error %d)\n",
-		    (int)p->p_pid, p->p_comm, error);
-#endif
-		PNBUF_PUT(path);
- 		epp->ep_path = NULL;
-	}
+	kmem_strfree(p->p_path);
+	p->p_path = kmem_strdupsize(resolvedname, NULL, KM_SLEEP);
 }
 
 /* XXX elsewhere */
@@ -1194,7 +1154,7 @@ execve_runproc(struct lwp *l, struct execve_data * restrict data,
 	if (error != 0)
 		goto exec_abort;
 
-	pathexec(epp, l, data->ed_pathstring);
+	pathexec(p, epp->ep_resolvedname);
 
 	char * const newstack = STACK_GROW(vm->vm_minsaddr, epp->ep_ssize);
 
@@ -1463,10 +1423,6 @@ copyoutargs(struct execve_data * restrict data, struct lwp *l,
 	error = (*epp->ep_esch->es_copyargs)(l, epp,
 	    &data->ed_arginfo, &newargs, data->ed_argp);
 
-	if (epp->ep_path) {
-		PNBUF_PUT(epp->ep_path);
-		epp->ep_path = NULL;
-	}
 	if (error) {
 		DPRINTF(("%s: copyargs failed %d\n", __func__, error));
 		return error;
@@ -2258,7 +2214,7 @@ posix_spawn_fa_free(struct posix_spawn_file_actions *fa, size_t len)
 		struct posix_spawn_file_actions_entry *fae = &fa->fae[i];
 		if (fae->fae_action != FAE_OPEN)
 			continue;
-		kmem_free(fae->fae_path, strlen(fae->fae_path) + 1);
+		kmem_strfree(fae->fae_path);
 	}
 	if (fa->len > 0)
 		kmem_free(fa->fae, sizeof(*fa->fae) * fa->len);
diff --git a/sys/kern/kern_exit.c b/sys/kern/kern_exit.c
index 439f3648c7e0..99eb2a1a3ddc 100644
--- a/sys/kern/kern_exit.c
+++ b/sys/kern/kern_exit.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: kern_exit.c,v 1.269 2017/08/28 00:46:07 kamil Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: kern_exit.c,v 1.270 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <sys/cdefs.h>
-__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: kern_exit.c,v 1.269 2017/08/28 00:46:07 kamil Exp $");
+__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: kern_exit.c,v 1.270 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $");
 
 #include "opt_ktrace.h"
 #include "opt_dtrace.h"
@@ -1250,6 +1250,7 @@ proc_free(struct proc *p, struct wrusage *wru)
 	 */
 	if (p->p_textvp)
 		vrele(p->p_textvp);
+	kmem_strfree(p->p_path);
 
 	mutex_destroy(&p->p_auxlock);
 	mutex_obj_free(p->p_lock);
diff --git a/sys/kern/kern_fork.c b/sys/kern/kern_fork.c
index 64db03264014..9323eb54baee 100644
--- a/sys/kern/kern_fork.c
+++ b/sys/kern/kern_fork.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: kern_fork.c,v 1.202 2017/04/21 15:10:34 christos Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: kern_fork.c,v 1.203 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <sys/cdefs.h>
-__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: kern_fork.c,v 1.202 2017/04/21 15:10:34 christos Exp $");
+__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: kern_fork.c,v 1.203 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $");
 
 #include "opt_ktrace.h"
 #include "opt_dtrace.h"
@@ -346,6 +346,10 @@ fork1(struct lwp *l1, int flags, int exitsig, void *stack, size_t stacksize,
 	p2->p_textvp = p1->p_textvp;
 	if (p2->p_textvp)
 		vref(p2->p_textvp);
+	if (p1->p_path)
+		p2->p_path = kmem_strdupsize(p1->p_path, NULL, KM_SLEEP);
+	else
+		p2->p_path = NULL;
 
 	if (flags & FORK_SHAREFILES)
 		fd_share(p2);
diff --git a/sys/kern/kern_proc.c b/sys/kern/kern_proc.c
index e196502ed3de..39efd1d2f5aa 100644
--- a/sys/kern/kern_proc.c
+++ b/sys/kern/kern_proc.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: kern_proc.c,v 1.207 2017/08/28 00:46:07 kamil Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: kern_proc.c,v 1.208 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <sys/cdefs.h>
-__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: kern_proc.c,v 1.207 2017/08/28 00:46:07 kamil Exp $");
+__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: kern_proc.c,v 1.208 2017/11/07 19:44:04 christos Exp $");
 
 #ifdef _KERNEL_OPT
 #include "opt_kstack.h"
@@ -2433,41 +2433,28 @@ proc_find_locked(struct lwp *l, struct proc **p, pid_t pid)
 static int
 fill_pathname(struct lwp *l, pid_t pid, void *oldp, size_t *oldlenp)
 {
-#ifndef _RUMPKERNEL
 	int error;
 	struct proc *p;
-	char *path;
-	size_t len;
 
 	if ((error = proc_find_locked(l, &p, pid)) != 0)
 		return error;
 
-	if (p->p_textvp == NULL) {
+	if (p->p_path == NULL) {
 		if (pid != -1)
 			mutex_exit(p->p_lock);
 		return ENOENT;
 	}
 
-	path = PNBUF_GET();
-	error = vnode_to_path(path, MAXPATHLEN / 2, p->p_textvp, l, p);
-	if (error)
-		goto out;
-
-	len = strlen(path) + 1;
+	size_t len = strlen(p->p_path) + 1;
 	if (oldp != NULL) {
-		error = sysctl_copyout(l, path, oldp, *oldlenp);
+		error = sysctl_copyout(l, p->p_path, oldp, *oldlenp);
 		if (error == 0 && *oldlenp < len)
 			error = ENOSPC;
 	}
 	*oldlenp = len;
-out:
-	PNBUF_PUT(path);
 	if (pid != -1)
 		mutex_exit(p->p_lock);
 	return error;
-#else
-	return 0;
-#endif
 }
 
 int
diff --git a/sys/sys/exec.h b/sys/sys/exec.h
index b85226c636a5..fab8a91f3f8e 100644
--- a/sys/sys/exec.h
+++ b/sys/sys/exec.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: exec.h,v 1.151 2016/08/06 15:13:14 maxv Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: exec.h,v 1.152 2017/11/07 19:44:05 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
@@ -215,7 +215,6 @@ struct exec_package {
 	struct vnode *ep_emul_root;     /* base of emulation filesystem */
 	struct vnode *ep_interp;        /* vnode of (elf) interpeter */
 	uint32_t ep_pax_flags;		/* pax flags */
-	char	*ep_path;		/* absolute path of executable */
 	void	(*ep_emul_arg_free)(void *);
 					/* free ep_emul_arg */
 	uint32_t ep_osversion;		/* OS version */
diff --git a/sys/sys/param.h b/sys/sys/param.h
index bbad1da383d0..809c387759ff 100644
--- a/sys/sys/param.h
+++ b/sys/sys/param.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: param.h,v 1.549 2017/10/23 11:21:56 martin Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: param.h,v 1.550 2017/11/07 19:44:05 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1993
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
  *	2.99.9		(299000900)
  */
 
-#define	__NetBSD_Version__	899000500	/* NetBSD 8.99.5 */
+#define	__NetBSD_Version__	899000600	/* NetBSD 8.99.6 */
 
 #define __NetBSD_Prereq__(M,m,p) (((((M) * 100000000) + \
     (m) * 1000000) + (p) * 100) <= __NetBSD_Version__)
diff --git a/sys/sys/proc.h b/sys/sys/proc.h
index 2c0d58067b3e..2c87681af793 100644
--- a/sys/sys/proc.h
+++ b/sys/sys/proc.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: proc.h,v 1.342 2017/08/28 00:46:07 kamil Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: proc.h,v 1.343 2017/11/07 19:44:05 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 2006, 2007, 2008 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
@@ -315,6 +315,7 @@ struct proc {
 	lwpid_t		p_lwp_created;	/* :: lwp created */
 	lwpid_t		p_lwp_exited;	/* :: lwp exited */
 	u_int		p_nsems;	/* Count of semaphores */
+	char		*p_path;	/* :: full pathname of executable */
 
 /*
  * End area that is zeroed on creation