diff --git a/scripts/__init_env__.php b/scripts/__init_env__.php
index 8925464937..faf5fedcea 100644
--- a/scripts/__init_env__.php
+++ b/scripts/__init_env__.php
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ ini_set('include_path', $include_path.':'.dirname(__FILE__).'/../../');
 
 require_once dirname(dirname(__FILE__)).'/conf/__init_conf__.php';
 
-$env = getenv('PHABRICATOR_ENV');
+$env = isset($_SERVER['PHABRICATOR_ENV'])
+  ? $_SERVER['PHABRICATOR_ENV']
+  : getenv('PHABRICATOR_ENV');
 if (!$env) {
   echo "Define PHABRICATOR_ENV before running this script.\n";
   exit(1);
diff --git a/scripts/mail/mail_handler.php b/scripts/mail/mail_handler.php
index f2f5412e75..001a03491b 100755
--- a/scripts/mail/mail_handler.php
+++ b/scripts/mail/mail_handler.php
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
+if ($argc > 1) {
+  $_SERVER['PHABRICATOR_ENV'] = $argv[1];
+}
+
 $root = dirname(dirname(dirname(__FILE__)));
 require_once $root.'/scripts/__init_script__.php';
 require_once $root.'/scripts/__init_env__.php';
diff --git a/src/docs/configuring_inbound_email.diviner b/src/docs/configuring_inbound_email.diviner
index 900e87ae73..f3ead1557a 100644
--- a/src/docs/configuring_inbound_email.diviner
+++ b/src/docs/configuring_inbound_email.diviner
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ probably means something like this:
 Now, you can actually configure sendmail to deliver to Phabricator. In
 ##/etc/aliases##, add an entry like this:
 
-  phabricator: "| PHABRICATOR_ENV=<ENV> /path/to/phabricator/scripts/mail/mail_handler.php"
+  phabricator: "| /path/to/phabricator/scripts/mail/mail_handler.php <ENV>"
 
 ...where <ENV> is the PHABRICATOR_ENV the script should run under. Run
 ##sudo newaliases##. Now you likely need to symlink this script into