diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index d0a1657292..f4f7be1916 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -188,7 +188,6 @@ extern int prefer_symlink_refs;
 extern int log_all_ref_updates;
 extern int warn_ambiguous_refs;
 extern int shared_repository;
-extern int deny_non_fast_forwards;
 extern const char *apply_default_whitespace;
 extern int zlib_compression_level;
 
diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index 63b1d155be..84d870ca4e 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ int warn_ambiguous_refs = 1;
 int repository_format_version;
 char git_commit_encoding[MAX_ENCODING_LENGTH] = "utf-8";
 int shared_repository = PERM_UMASK;
-int deny_non_fast_forwards = 0;
 const char *apply_default_whitespace;
 int zlib_compression_level = Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION;
 int pager_in_use;
diff --git a/receive-pack.c b/receive-pack.c
index ea2dbd4e33..f2b1c29bd7 100644
--- a/receive-pack.c
+++ b/receive-pack.c
@@ -9,11 +9,25 @@ static const char receive_pack_usage[] = "git-receive-pack <git-dir>";
 
 static const char *unpacker[] = { "unpack-objects", NULL };
 
+static int deny_non_fast_forwards = 0;
 static int report_status;
 
 static char capabilities[] = "report-status";
 static int capabilities_sent;
 
+static int receive_pack_config(const char *var, const char *value)
+{
+	git_default_config(var, value);
+
+	if (strcmp(var, "receive.denynonfastforwards") == 0)
+	{
+		deny_non_fast_forwards = git_config_bool(var, value);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static int show_ref(const char *path, const unsigned char *sha1)
 {
 	if (capabilities_sent)
@@ -338,6 +352,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	if(!enter_repo(dir, 0))
 		die("'%s': unable to chdir or not a git archive", dir);
 
+	git_config(receive_pack_config);
+
 	write_head_info();
 
 	/* EOF */
diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
index 9a46a58a4a..2afdba414a 100644
--- a/setup.c
+++ b/setup.c
@@ -244,8 +244,6 @@ int check_repository_format_version(const char *var, const char *value)
                repository_format_version = git_config_int(var, value);
 	else if (strcmp(var, "core.sharedrepository") == 0)
 		shared_repository = git_config_perm(var, value);
-	else if (strcmp(var, "receive.denynonfastforwards") == 0)
-		deny_non_fast_forwards = git_config_bool(var, value);
        return 0;
 }