diff --git a/shell/ash.c b/shell/ash.c
index 9fd1b55e2..a7c03bbc2 100644
--- a/shell/ash.c
+++ b/shell/ash.c
@@ -1919,7 +1919,7 @@ static const struct {
 	{ VSTRFIXED|VTEXTFIXED       , "PS2=> "    , NULL            },
 	{ VSTRFIXED|VTEXTFIXED       , "PS4=+ "    , NULL            },
 #if ENABLE_ASH_GETOPTS
-	{ VSTRFIXED|VTEXTFIXED       , "OPTIND=1"  , getoptsreset    },
+	{ VSTRFIXED|VTEXTFIXED       , defoptindvar, getoptsreset    },
 #endif
 #if ENABLE_ASH_RANDOM_SUPPORT
 	{ VSTRFIXED|VTEXTFIXED|VUNSET|VDYNAMIC, "RANDOM", change_random },
@@ -13124,6 +13124,8 @@ init(void)
 			}
 		}
 
+		setvareq((char*)defoptindvar, VTEXTFIXED);
+
 		setvar0("PPID", utoa(getppid()));
 #if ENABLE_ASH_BASH_COMPAT
 		p = lookupvar("SHLVL");
diff --git a/shell/shell_common.c b/shell/shell_common.c
index 14eeaafcc..98d862744 100644
--- a/shell/shell_common.c
+++ b/shell/shell_common.c
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <sys/resource.h> /* getrlimit */
 
 const char defifsvar[] ALIGN1 = "IFS= \t\n";
+const char defoptindvar[] ALIGN1 = "OPTIND=1";
 
 
 int FAST_FUNC is_well_formed_var_name(const char *s, char terminator)
diff --git a/shell/shell_common.h b/shell/shell_common.h
index 993ed5951..a82535c86 100644
--- a/shell/shell_common.h
+++ b/shell/shell_common.h
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ PUSH_AND_SET_FUNCTION_VISIBILITY_TO_HIDDEN
 extern const char defifsvar[] ALIGN1; /* "IFS= \t\n" */
 #define defifs (defifsvar + 4)
 
+extern const char defoptindvar[] ALIGN1; /* "OPTIND=1" */
+
 int FAST_FUNC is_well_formed_var_name(const char *s, char terminator);
 
 /* Builtins */