diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 1cad322..c036a89 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -158,8 +158,6 @@ struct _uintptr_to_must_hold_fuse_ino_t_dummy_struct
 };
 #endif
 
-static bool disable_ovl_whiteout;
-
 static uid_t overflow_uid;
 static gid_t overflow_gid;
 
@@ -290,6 +288,12 @@ check_can_mknod (struct ovl_data *lo)
   int ret;
   char path[PATH_MAX];
 
+  if (getenv ("FUSE_OVERLAYFS_DISABLE_OVL_WHITEOUT"))
+    {
+      can_mknod = false;
+      return;
+    }
+
   sprintf (path, "%lu", get_next_wd_counter ());
 
   ret = mknodat (lo->workdir_fd, path, S_IFCHR|0700, makedev (0, 0));
@@ -723,7 +727,7 @@ create_whiteout (struct ovl_data *lo, struct ovl_node *parent, const char *name,
         return 0;
     }
 
-  if (!disable_ovl_whiteout && !skip_mknod && can_mknod)
+  if (!skip_mknod && can_mknod)
     {
       char whiteout_path[PATH_MAX];
 
@@ -5468,9 +5472,6 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   struct ovl_layer *tmp_layer = NULL;
   struct fuse_args args = FUSE_ARGS_INIT (argc, newargv);
 
-  if (getenv ("FUSE_OVERLAYFS_DISABLE_OVL_WHITEOUT"))
-    disable_ovl_whiteout = true;
-
   memset (&opts, 0, sizeof (opts));
   if (fuse_opt_parse (&args, &lo, ovl_opts, fuse_opt_proc) == -1)
     error (EXIT_FAILURE, 0, "error parsing options");