diff --git a/ddclient.in b/ddclient.in
index 53db6ed..7d244db 100755
--- a/ddclient.in
+++ b/ddclient.in
@@ -1959,15 +1959,11 @@ sub init_config {
             delete($globals{$k});
             next;
         }
-        # TODO: Isn't $globals{$k} guaranteed to be defined here?  Otherwise $k wouldn't appear in
-        # %globals.
-        my $ovalue = $globals{$k} // $def->{'default'};
         # _read_config already checked any value from the config file, so the purpose of this check
         # is to validate command-line options which were merged into %globals above.
         # TODO: Move this check to where the command-line options are actually processed.
-        if (!eval { $globals{$k} = check_value($ovalue, $def); 1; }) {
-            $ovalue //= '(not set)';
-            warning("ignoring invalid variable value '$k=$ovalue': $@");
+        if (!eval { $globals{$k} = check_value($globals{$k}, $def); 1; }) {
+            warning("ignoring invalid variable value '$k=$globals{$k}': $@");
             if ($def->{'required'}) {
                 # TODO: What's the point of this?  The opt() function will fall back to the default
                 # value if $globals{$k} is undefined.