diff --git a/usr.bin/doscmd/debug.c b/usr.bin/doscmd/debug.c
index b68f6900aa08..bbae1454deda 100644
--- a/usr.bin/doscmd/debug.c
+++ b/usr.bin/doscmd/debug.c
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 #include "tty.h"
 
 /* debug output goes here */
-FILE *debugf = stderr;
+FILE *debugf;
 
 /* see doscmd.h for flag names */
 int debug_flags = D_ALWAYS;
diff --git a/usr.bin/doscmd/doscmd.c b/usr.bin/doscmd/doscmd.c
index 3bc58f6dd653..5b189e25f2b2 100644
--- a/usr.bin/doscmd/doscmd.c
+++ b/usr.bin/doscmd/doscmd.c
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
     int fd;
     int i;    
 
+    debugf = stderr;
     /* XXX should only be for tty mode */
     fd = open (_PATH_DEVNULL, O_RDWR);
     if (fd != 3)