diff --git a/util/check-changes b/util/check-changes
index ac52645486..7b2427d734 100644
--- a/util/check-changes
+++ b/util/check-changes
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -S $0 ${1+"$@"}'
 			# this emulates #! processing on NIH machines.
 			# (remove #! line above if indigestible)
 
-$master = 1;
+$master = 0;
 
 eval '$'.$1.'$2;' while $ARGV[0] =~ /^([A-Za-z_0-9]+=)(.*)/ && shift;
 			# process any FOO=bar switches