openssh-2.3.0p1 installation problem (still)

[john]

i posted here a couple days ago with a fairly minor (depending on how you look at it) installation problem and while ive used string and duct tape to fix it, i have not heard anything back about it.

the problem is if you ./configure --with-default-path=/yourpath it doesnt seem to actually work.  scp was not working for me and after checking the faq, i saw this was my problem as scp was installed to /usr/local/bin.  so i made distclean and configured --with-default-path=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin and rebuilt.

after this didnt work (several times), i followed a suggestion that someone sent to me and i 'ssh [myhost] echo \$PATH'.  this was the output:
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

i thought i was doing something wrong until i did the same thing on a friend's box and it was the same.  how was his scp working?  a symlink in /bin.  while i knew that would fix the problem, i was avoiding doing that because, well, it should work the RIGHT way.  but i did the symlink thing and now it works, but i still think its lame.

so i just wanted to know.  am i doing something wrong or is this indeed a bug in the configuration/installation?
also, if i was doing some strange security lockdown and i really cared what the default path was, i might be upset that this didnt work...as it is, im fine with it working, i just want to know if its something im doing or what.
-j