diff --git a/pkgs/baseenv/setup.sh b/pkgs/baseenv/setup.sh
index 3b8263a8df3e..4cdd3518247b 100644
--- a/pkgs/baseenv/setup.sh
+++ b/pkgs/baseenv/setup.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Add the directory containing the GCC wrappers to the PATH.
-export PATH=@OUT@/bin
+export PATH=@OUT@/bin:$PATH
 
 # Recursively add all envpkgs to the relevant environment variables.
 addtoenv()
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv-linux/setup.sh b/pkgs/stdenv-linux/setup.sh
index 3d37b2750c9c..396abf41c54b 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv-linux/setup.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv-linux/setup.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
+export PATH=@PATH@
+export SHELL=@SHELL@
+
 . @BASEENV@/setup
 
 export NIX_CFLAGS="-isystem @GLIBC@/include $NIX_CFLAGS"
 export NIX_LDFLAGS="-L @GLIBC@/lib -Wl,-dynamic-linker,@GLIBC@/lib/ld-linux.so.2,-rpath,@GLIBC@/lib $NIX_LDFLAGS"
 export NIX_CC=@CC@
 export NIX_CXX=@CXX@
-
-export PATH=@PATH@
-export SHELL=@SHELL@
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv-linux/stdenv-build.sh b/pkgs/stdenv-linux/stdenv-build.sh
index 6695cb058a9b..005a6f8043d3 100755
--- a/pkgs/stdenv-linux/stdenv-build.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv-linux/stdenv-build.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ for i in $tools; do
     fi
     p=$p$i/bin
 done
-p=$p':$PATH'
 
 cc=$gcc/bin/gcc
 cxx=$gcc/bin/g++
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv-linux/stdenv-nativetools-build.sh b/pkgs/stdenv-linux/stdenv-nativetools-build.sh
index 8d2094c9204c..3c0e61b2ba4b 100755
--- a/pkgs/stdenv-linux/stdenv-nativetools-build.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv-linux/stdenv-nativetools-build.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ export PATH=/bin:/usr/bin
 
 mkdir $out || exit 1
 
-p='$PATH:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin'
+p='/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin'
 
 cc=/usr/bin/gcc
 cxx=/usr/bin/g++