diff --git a/include/pathnames.h b/include/pathnames.h
index cbc93b769..cc01589cd 100644
--- a/include/pathnames.h
+++ b/include/pathnames.h
@@ -193,5 +193,8 @@
 /* kernel command line */
 #define _PATH_PROC_CMDLINE	"/proc/cmdline"
 
+/* logger paths */
+#define _PATH_DEVLOG		"/dev/log"
+
 #endif /* PATHNAMES_H */
 
diff --git a/misc-utils/logger.c b/misc-utils/logger.c
index a3af7f113..db6fd448a 100644
--- a/misc-utils/logger.c
+++ b/misc-utils/logger.c
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@
 #include "c.h"
 #include "closestream.h"
 #include "nls.h"
+#include "pathnames.h"
 #include "strutils.h"
 #include "xalloc.h"
 
@@ -481,7 +482,7 @@ static void logger_open(struct logger_ctl *ctl)
 			ctl->syslogfp = syslog_rfc5424;
 		return;
 	}
-	ctl->fd = unix_socket(ctl, "/dev/log", ctl->socket_type);
+	ctl->fd = unix_socket(ctl, _PATH_DEVLOG, ctl->socket_type);
 	ctl->syslogfp = syslog_local;
 }