lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm  |  2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm | 17 ++++++-----------
 t/config.t               |  2 --

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm
index 4dd584d3478a2e2371be75de2375ac50793fc489..f570a25da560ded94d9a247e1b9fb23208a01865 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
 sub recent_msgs {
 	my ($ctx) = @_;
 	my $ibx = $ctx->{ibx};
-	my $max = $ibx->{feedmax};
+	my $max = $ibx->{feedmax} // 25;
 	return PublicInbox::View::paginate_recent($ctx, $max) if $ibx->over;
 
 	# only for rare v1 inboxes which aren't indexed at all
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
index 586bd56110e5e548f3ea9c01bdf52e45915b5397..4e3c23f35a4820e96d87cb8f4b2c0f048ef9f5b0 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
@@ -74,16 +74,6 @@ 	$cleanup_timer //= PublicInbox::DS::later(\&cleanup_task);
 	$CLEANUP->{"$self"} = $self;
 }
 
-sub _set_uint ($$$) {
-	my ($opts, $field, $default) = @_;
-	my $val = $opts->{$field};
-	if (defined $val) {
-		$val = $val->[-1] if ref($val) eq 'ARRAY';
-		$val = undef if $val !~ /\A[0-9]+\z/;
-	}
-	$opts->{$field} = $val || $default;
-}
-
 sub _set_limiter ($$$) {
 	my ($self, $pi_cfg, $pfx) = @_;
 	my $lkey = "-${pfx}_limiter";
@@ -112,7 +102,12 @@ 	my $p = $opts->{-primary_address} = ref($v) eq 'ARRAY' ? $v->[0] : $v;
 	$opts->{domain} = ($p =~ /\@(\S+)\z/) ? $1 : 'localhost';
 	my $pi_cfg = delete $opts->{-pi_cfg};
 	_set_limiter($opts, $pi_cfg, 'httpbackend');
-	_set_uint($opts, 'feedmax', 25);
+	my $fmax = $opts->{feedmax};
+	if (defined($fmax) && $fmax =~ /\A[0-9]+\z/) {
+		$opts->{feedmax} += 0;
+	} else {
+		delete $opts->{feedmax};
+	}
 	$opts->{nntpserver} ||= $pi_cfg->{'publicinbox.nntpserver'};
 	my $dir = $opts->{inboxdir};
 	if (defined $dir && -f "$dir/inbox.lock") {
diff --git a/t/config.t b/t/config.t
index ee51c6cc2628d8c663c47a90ab8a3cd12d6d7dc5..99a7fef45793ccc2b5e5e8d10c6eddf2922bb42e 100644
--- a/t/config.t
+++ b/t/config.t
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ 		'domain' => 'public-inbox.org',
 		'url' => [ 'http://example.com/meta' ],
 		-primary_address => 'meta@public-inbox.org',
 		'name' => 'meta',
-		feedmax => 25,
 		-httpbackend_limiter => undef,
 		nntpserver => undef,
 	}, "lookup matches expected output");
@@ -58,7 +57,6 @@ 		-primary_address => 'try@public-inbox.org',
 		'inboxdir' => '/home/pi/test-main.git',
 		'domain' => 'public-inbox.org',
 		'name' => 'test',
-		feedmax => 25,
 		'url' => [ 'http://example.com/test' ],
 		-httpbackend_limiter => undef,
 		nntpserver => undef,