--- a/libbb/gz_open.c
+++ b/libbb/gz_open.c
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include "libbb.h"
 
-static int gz_use_vfork;
+static const int gz_use_vfork = 1;
 
 FILE *
 gz_open(FILE *compressed_file, int *pid)
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@ gz_open(FILE *compressed_file, int *pid)
 	off_t floc;
 	int cfile = -1;
 
-	gz_use_vfork = (getenv("OPKG_USE_VFORK") != NULL);
-
 	if (gz_use_vfork) {
 		/* Create a new file descriptor for the input stream
 		 * (it *must* be associated with a file), and lseek()