diff --git a/doc/config.md b/doc/config.md
index a4abc3c0..dbce328e 100644
--- a/doc/config.md
+++ b/doc/config.md
@@ -207,10 +207,12 @@ and any `*.conf`, was added.  It is worth noting that these are global
 and *shared with all* services -- the only way to have service-local
 environment is detailed in the next section.
 
-The syntax for global environment variables is straight forward:
+The syntax for global environment variables is straight forward.  In
+Finit v4.4 the `set` keyword was added for completeness, but the old
+syntax (without the `set ` prefix) is still honored:
 
-    foo=bar
-    baz="qux"
+    set foo=bar
+    set baz="qux"
 
 On reload of .conf files, all tracked environment variables are cleared
 so if `foo=bar` is removed from `finit.conf`, or any `finit.d/*.conf`
diff --git a/src/conf.c b/src/conf.c
index 56eabdef..1ac5af20 100644
--- a/src/conf.c
+++ b/src/conf.c
@@ -708,6 +708,11 @@ static int parse_static(char *line, int is_rcsd)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (BOOTSTRAP && MATCH_CMD(line, "set ", x)) {
+		parse_env(x);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (MATCH_CMD(line, "include ", x)) {
 		char *file = strip_line(x);