diff --git a/src/subshell/common.c b/src/subshell/common.c
index 8c7abc955..891d05ff9 100644
--- a/src/subshell/common.c
+++ b/src/subshell/common.c
@@ -272,7 +272,6 @@ static void
 init_subshell_child (const char *pty_name)
 {
     char *init_file = NULL;
-    char *putenv_str = NULL;
     pid_t mc_sid;
 
     (void) pty_name;
@@ -343,10 +342,7 @@ init_subshell_child (const char *pty_name)
 
             input_file = mc_config_get_full_path (MC_INPUTRC_FILE);
             if (exist_file (input_file))
-            {
-                putenv_str = g_strconcat ("INPUTRC=", input_file, (char *) NULL);
-                putenv (putenv_str);
-            }
+                g_setenv ("INPUTRC", input_file, TRUE);
             g_free (input_file);
         }
 
@@ -365,9 +361,7 @@ init_subshell_child (const char *pty_name)
         }
 
         /* Put init file to ENV variable used by ash */
-        putenv_str = g_strconcat ("ENV=", init_file, (char *) NULL);
-        putenv (putenv_str);
-        /* Do not use "g_free (putenv_str)" here, otherwise ENV will be undefined! */
+        g_setenv ("ENV", init_file, TRUE);
 
         break;
 
@@ -449,7 +443,6 @@ init_subshell_child (const char *pty_name)
 
     /* If we get this far, everything failed miserably */
     g_free (init_file);
-    g_free (putenv_str);
     my_exit (FORK_FAILURE);
 }