diff --git a/http-backend.c b/http-backend.c
index b329bf63f0..92ceb31f9a 100644
--- a/http-backend.c
+++ b/http-backend.c
@@ -739,6 +739,7 @@ static int bad_request(struct strbuf *hdr, const struct service_cmd *c)
 int cmd_main(int argc, const char **argv)
 {
 	char *method = getenv("REQUEST_METHOD");
+	const char *proto_header;
 	char *dir;
 	struct service_cmd *cmd = NULL;
 	char *cmd_arg = NULL;
@@ -789,6 +790,9 @@ int cmd_main(int argc, const char **argv)
 	http_config();
 	max_request_buffer = git_env_ulong("GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUEST_BUFFER",
 					   max_request_buffer);
+	proto_header = getenv("HTTP_GIT_PROTOCOL");
+	if (proto_header)
+		setenv(GIT_PROTOCOL_ENVIRONMENT, proto_header, 0);
 
 	cmd->imp(&hdr, cmd_arg);
 	return 0;
diff --git a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
index 1321357d8b..180a41fe96 100644
--- a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
+++ b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
@@ -81,8 +81,6 @@ PassEnv GIT_TRACE
 PassEnv GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM
 PassEnv GIT_TEST_SIDEBAND_ALL
 
-SetEnvIf Git-Protocol ".*" GIT_PROTOCOL=$0
-
 Alias /dumb/ www/
 Alias /auth/dumb/ www/auth/dumb/