diff --git a/src/libnss.zig b/src/libnss.zig
index 88dbef6..27e41a9 100644
--- a/src/libnss.zig
+++ b/src/libnss.zig
@@ -22,8 +22,11 @@ const c = @cImport({
     @cInclude("nss.h");
 });
 
+// cannot use os.getenv due to ziglang/zig#4524
+extern fn getenv([*:0]const u8) ?[*:0]const u8;
+
 const ENV_DB = "TURBONSS_DB";
-const ENV_LOGLEVEL = "TURBONSS_LOGLEVEL";
+const ENV_VERBOSE = "TURBONSS_VERBOSE";
 const ENV_OMIT_MEMBERS = "TURBONSS_OMIT_MEMBERS";
 
 export var turbonss_db_path: [:0]const u8 = "/etc/turbonss/db.turbo";
@@ -51,58 +54,48 @@ var global_init = once(init);
 
 // assigns State from environment variables et al
 fn init() void {
-    //const verbose = blk: {
-    //    if (os.getenvZ(ENV_LOGLEVEL)) |env| {
-    //        const got = mem.sliceTo(env, 0);
-    //        if (mem.eql(u8, got, "0")) {
-    //            break :blk false;
-    //        } else if (mem.eql(u8, got, "1")) {
-    //            break :blk true;
-    //        } else {
-    //            std.debug.print(
-    //                "warning: unrecognized {s}={s}. Expected between 0 or 1\n",
-    //                .{ ENV_LOGLEVEL, got },
-    //            );
-    //        }
-    //    }
-    //    break :blk false;
-    //};
+    const verbose = blk: {
+        if (getenv(ENV_VERBOSE)) |env| {
+            const got = mem.sliceTo(env, 0);
+            if (mem.eql(u8, got, "0")) {
+                break :blk false;
+            } else if (mem.eql(u8, got, "1")) {
+                break :blk true;
+            } else {
+                std.debug.print(
+                    "warning: unrecognized {s}={s}. Expected between 0 or 1\n",
+                    .{ ENV_VERBOSE, got },
+                );
+            }
+        }
+        break :blk false;
+    };
 
-    //const omit_members = blk: {
-    //    if (os.getenvZ(ENV_OMIT_MEMBERS)) |env| {
-    //        const got = mem.sliceTo(env, 0);
-    //        if (mem.eql(u8, got, "1")) {
-    //            break :blk true;
-    //        } else if (mem.eql(u8, got, "0")) {
-    //            break :blk false;
-    //        } else if (mem.eql(u8, got, "auto")) {
-    //            // not set, do autodiscover
-    //        } else {
-    //            std.debug.print(
-    //                "warning: unrecognized {s}={s}. Expected 0, 1 or auto\n",
-    //                .{ ENV_OMIT_MEMBERS, got },
-    //            );
-    //        }
-    //    }
-    //    if (os.argv.len == 0) break :blk false;
-    //    break :blk mem.eql(u8, mem.sliceTo(os.argv[0], 0), "id");
-    //};
+    const omit_members = blk: {
+        if (getenv(ENV_OMIT_MEMBERS)) |env| {
+            const got = mem.sliceTo(env, 0);
+            if (mem.eql(u8, got, "1")) {
+                break :blk true;
+            } else if (mem.eql(u8, got, "0")) {
+                break :blk false;
+            } else if (mem.eql(u8, got, "auto")) {
+                // not set, do autodiscover
+            } else {
+                std.debug.print(
+                    "warning: unrecognized {s}={s}. Expected 0, 1 or auto\n",
+                    .{ ENV_OMIT_MEMBERS, got },
+                );
+            }
+        }
+        //if (os.argv.len == 0) break :blk false;
+        //break :blk mem.eql(u8, mem.sliceTo(os.argv[0], 0), "id");
+        break :blk false; // https://github.com/ziglang/zig/issues/4524#issuecomment-1184748756
+    };
 
-    //const fname = os.getenvZ(ENV_DB) orelse turbonss_db_path;
-    //if (verbose)
-    //    std.debug.print("opening '{s}'\n", .{fname});
-    const fname = turbonss_db_path;
-    const verbose = false;
-    const omit_members = false;
-
-    // TODO: neither getenvZ nor os.argv work as expected on a shared library.
-    //const omit_members = if (os.argv.len == 0)
-    //    false
-    //else
-    //    mem.eql(u8, mem.sliceTo(os.argv[0], 0), "id");
-
-    if (verbose)
-        std.debug.print("omitting members from getgr* calls: {any}\n", .{omit_members});
+    const fname = if (getenv(ENV_DB)) |env|
+        mem.sliceTo(env, 0)
+    else
+        turbonss_db_path;
 
     const file = File.open(fname) catch |err| {
         if (verbose)
@@ -110,8 +103,10 @@ fn init() void {
         return;
     };
 
-    if (verbose)
-        std.debug.print("turbonss database opened\n", .{});
+    if (verbose) {
+        std.debug.print("turbonss database '{s}' opened\n", .{fname});
+        std.debug.print("omitting members from getgr* calls: {any}\n", .{omit_members});
+    }
 
     global_state = State{
         .file = file,