diff --git a/extra/dist/tarantoolctl b/extra/dist/tarantoolctl
index b49b90471f0df7e997ee7aa1c9ffea12ac2577a3..85d7e41360aaf7601f8d26263adcdbcc808d6956 100755
--- a/extra/dist/tarantoolctl
+++ b/extra/dist/tarantoolctl
@@ -404,7 +404,11 @@ local function wrapper_cfg(cfg)
     -- force these startup options
     --
     cfg.pid_file = default_cfg.pid_file
-    cfg.username = (os.getenv('USER') == default_cfg.username and default_cfg.username) or nil
+    if os.getenv('USER') ~= default_cfg.username then
+        cfg.username = default_cfg.username
+    else
+        cfg.username = nil
+    end
     if cfg.background == nil then
         cfg.background = true
     end