diff -Naurp coreutils-6.12/src/su.c coreutils-6.12.oden/src/su.c
--- coreutils-6.12/src/su.c	2008-05-26 08:40:33.000000000 +0200
+++ coreutils-6.12.oden/src/su.c	2008-12-21 16:09:29.000000000 +0100
@@ -112,6 +112,15 @@
 # define DEFAULT_ROOT_LOGIN_PATH "/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/bin:/etc"
 #endif
 
+/* The default paths which get set are both bogus and oddly influenced
+   by <paths.h> and -D on the commands line. Just to be clear, we'll set
+   these explicitly. -ewt */
+#undef DEFAULT_LOGIN_PATH
+#undef DEFAULT_ROOT_LOGIN_PATH
+#define DEFAULT_LOGIN_PATH "/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin/X11"
+#define DEFAULT_ROOT_LOGIN_PATH \
+    "/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin/X11"
+
 /* The shell to run if none is given in the user's passwd entry.  */
 #define DEFAULT_SHELL "/bin/sh"