diff --git a/lisp/tramp-sh.el b/lisp/tramp-sh.el
index b7089207..08f7a04d 100644
--- a/lisp/tramp-sh.el
+++ b/lisp/tramp-sh.el
@@ -1361,32 +1361,34 @@ component is used as the target of the symlink."
   (tramp-message vec 5 "file attributes with stat: %s" localname)
   (tramp-send-command-and-read
    vec
-   (format
-    (eval-when-compile
-      (concat
-       ;; On Opsware, pdksh (which is the true name of ksh there)
-       ;; doesn't parse correctly the sequence "((".  Therefore, we
-       ;; add a space.  Apostrophes in the stat output are masked as
-       ;; `tramp-stat-marker', in order to make a proper shell escape
-       ;; of them in file names.
-       "( (%s %s || %s -h %s) && (%s -c "
-       "'((%s%%N%s) %%h %s %s %%X %%Y %%Z %%s %s%%A%s t %%i -1)' "
-       "%s | sed -e 's/\"/\\\\\"/g' -e 's/%s/\"/g') || echo nil)"))
-    (tramp-get-file-exists-command vec)
-    (tramp-shell-quote-argument localname)
-    (tramp-get-test-command vec)
-    (tramp-shell-quote-argument localname)
-    (tramp-get-remote-stat vec)
-    tramp-stat-marker tramp-stat-marker
-    (if (eq id-format 'integer)
-	"%u"
-      (eval-when-compile (concat tramp-stat-marker "%U" tramp-stat-marker)))
-    (if (eq id-format 'integer)
-	"%g"
-      (eval-when-compile (concat tramp-stat-marker "%G" tramp-stat-marker)))
-    tramp-stat-marker tramp-stat-marker
-    (tramp-shell-quote-argument localname)
-    tramp-stat-quoted-marker)))
+   (tramp-shorten-long-command
+    vec
+    (format
+     (eval-when-compile
+       (concat
+	;; On Opsware, pdksh (which is the true name of ksh there)
+	;; doesn't parse correctly the sequence "((".  Therefore, we
+	;; add a space.  Apostrophes in the stat output are masked as
+	;; `tramp-stat-marker', in order to make a proper shell escape
+	;; of them in file names.
+	"( (%s %s || %s -h %s) && (%s -c "
+	"'((%s%%N%s) %%h %s %s %%X %%Y %%Z %%s %s%%A%s t %%i -1)' "
+	"%s | sed -e 's/\"/\\\\\"/g' -e 's/%s/\"/g') || echo nil)"))
+     (tramp-get-file-exists-command vec)
+     (tramp-shell-quote-argument localname)
+     (tramp-get-test-command vec)
+     (tramp-shell-quote-argument localname)
+     (tramp-get-remote-stat vec)
+     tramp-stat-marker tramp-stat-marker
+     (if (eq id-format 'integer)
+	 "%u"
+       (eval-when-compile (concat tramp-stat-marker "%U" tramp-stat-marker)))
+     (if (eq id-format 'integer)
+	 "%g"
+       (eval-when-compile (concat tramp-stat-marker "%G" tramp-stat-marker)))
+     tramp-stat-marker tramp-stat-marker
+     (tramp-shell-quote-argument localname)
+     tramp-stat-quoted-marker))))

 (defun tramp-sh-handle-set-visited-file-modtime (&optional time-list)
   "Like `set-visited-file-modtime' for Tramp files."
@@ -3956,25 +3958,13 @@ This function expects to be in the right *tramp* buffer."
 I.e., for each directory in `tramp-remote-path', it is tested
 whether it exists and if so, it is added to the environment
 variable PATH."
-  (let ((command
-	 (format
-	  "PATH=%s; export PATH" (string-join (tramp-get-remote-path vec) ":")))
-	(pipe-buf
-	 (or (with-tramp-connection-property vec "pipe-buf"
-	       (tramp-send-command-and-read
-		vec "getconf PIPE_BUF / 2>/dev/null || echo nil" 'noerror))
-	     4096))
-	tmpfile)
     (tramp-message vec 5 "Setting $PATH environment variable")
-    (if (< (length command) pipe-buf)
-	(tramp-send-command vec command)
-      ;; Use a temporary file.
-      (setq tmpfile
-	    (tramp-make-tramp-file-name vec (tramp-make-tramp-temp-file vec)))
-      (write-region command nil tmpfile)
-      (tramp-send-command
-       vec (format ". %s" (tramp-compat-file-local-name tmpfile)))
-      (delete-file tmpfile))))
+    (tramp-send-command
+     vec
+     (tramp-shorten-long-command
+      vec
+      (format
+       "PATH=%s; export PATH" (string-join (tramp-get-remote-path vec) ":")))))

 ;; ------------------------------------------------------------
 ;; -- Communication with external shell --
@@ -5043,6 +5033,30 @@ connection if a previous connection has died for some reason."
        (tramp-cleanup-connection vec t)
        (signal (car err) (cdr err))))))

+(defun tramp-shorten-long-command (vec command)
+  "Return the command to be used.
+If COMMAND is too long, write it to a temporary file, and return
+a command to source that temporary file."
+  (if (< (length command)
+	 ;; PIPE_BUF is undefined on Solaris.  But there's a report of
+	 ;; a problem with a command longer than 256 characters.
+	 (or (with-tramp-connection-property
+		 (tramp-get-connection-process vec) "pipe-buf"
+	       (tramp-send-command-and-read
+		vec "getconf PIPE_BUF / 2>/dev/null || echo nil" 'noerror))
+	     256))
+      command
+    ;; Use a temporary file.  We must exclude `tramp-get-remote-stat'
+    ;; in order to avoid an infinite loop.
+    (cl-letf (((symbol-function 'tramp-get-remote-stat) 'ignore))
+      (let ((tmpfile
+	     (tramp-make-tramp-file-name vec (tramp-make-tramp-temp-file vec))))
+	(write-region command nil tmpfile)
+	(tramp-message vec 6 "%s" command)
+	(format ". %s && rm -f %s"
+		(tramp-compat-file-local-name tmpfile)
+		(tramp-compat-file-local-name tmpfile))))))
+
 (defun tramp-send-command (vec command &optional neveropen nooutput)
   "Send the COMMAND to connection VEC.
 Erases temporary buffer before sending the command.  If optional