lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm        | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm | 4 ++--
 lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm          | 4 ++--
 lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm   | 3 ++-
 lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm        | 4 +++-
 lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm       | 8 ++++----
 t/run.perl                      | 1 +

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm
index 9ff59bca3eea304198090585e93eb6f2946853a0..20964f9cf7ac97dc7428c0a3cbee58d5e0050bb9 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ 	my $jobs = delete $opt->{jobs} if $opt;
 	if (my $pr = $opt->{-progress}) {
 		$pr->("indexing $ibx->{inboxdir} ...\n");
 	}
-	local %SIG = %SIG;
+	local @SIG{keys %SIG} = values %SIG;
 	setup_signals(\&index_terminate, $ibx);
 	my $idx = { current_info => $ibx->{inboxdir} };
 	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
index e0ba6c32d6794391e62d8693bde85d2baeee27ec..6b29789a2ed89d33d12e654d6a95f9bbe65cc8fa 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
@@ -1272,7 +1272,7 @@ }
 
 sub eidx_watch { # public-inbox-extindex --watch main loop
 	my ($self, $opt) = @_;
-	local %SIG = %SIG;
+	local @SIG{keys %SIG} = values %SIG;
 	for my $sig (qw(HUP USR1 TSTP QUIT INT TERM)) {
 		$SIG{$sig} = sub { warn "SIG$sig ignored while scanning\n" };
 	}
@@ -1307,7 +1307,7 @@ 	my $quit = PublicInbox::SearchIdx::quit_cb($sync);
 	$sig->{QUIT} = $sig->{INT} = $sig->{TERM} = $quit;
 	my $sigfd = PublicInbox::Sigfd->new($sig,
 					$PublicInbox::Syscall::SFD_NONBLOCK);
-	%SIG = (%SIG, %$sig) if !$sigfd;
+	@SIG{keys %$sig} = values(%$sig) if !$sigfd;
 	local $self->{-watch_sync} = $sync; # for ->on_inbox_unlock
 	if (!$sigfd) {
 		# wake up every second to accept signals if we don't
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm
index 1c699d76fea1578558ec5361ae5d8e19913deef7..3e29def87bf57de2f47b7593fa7600f1aad2275c 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ 		eval {
 			$fields //= {};
 			local @$self{keys %$fields} = values(%$fields);
 			my $on_destroy = $self->ipc_atfork_child;
-			local %SIG = %SIG;
+			local @SIG{keys %SIG} = values %SIG;
 			PublicInbox::DS::sig_setmask($sigset);
 			ipc_worker_loop($self, $r_req, $w_res);
 		};
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ 		eval {
 			$fields //= {};
 			local @$self{keys %$fields} = values(%$fields);
 			my $on_destroy = $self->ipc_atfork_child;
-			local %SIG = %SIG;
+			local @SIG{keys %SIG} = values %SIG;
 			PublicInbox::DS::sig_setmask($oldset);
 			wq_worker_loop($self, $bcast2);
 		};
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm
index 9e15239465aabe05728603b3db8869f48f128b7c..92a7db36969559f28e358d616c032e84daa24faa 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm
@@ -317,7 +317,8 @@ 	} else { # localize and run everything in the same process:
 		# note: "local *STDIN = *STDIN;" and so forth did not work in
 		# old versions of perl
 		local %ENV = $env ? (%ENV, %$env) : %ENV;
-		local %SIG = %SIG;
+		local @SIG{keys %SIG} = map { undef } values %SIG;
+		local $SIG{FPE} = 'IGNORE'; # Perl default
 		local $0 = join(' ', @$cmd);
 		my $orig_io = _prepare_redirects($fhref);
 		my $cwdfh = $lei_cwdfh;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm
index 387eb6d252e9a0f329b1fcbaef0ec81a8020a70e..0523ad03f8710257e60957d6ddddb23b7943689f 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm
@@ -384,7 +384,9 @@ 	delete $self->{idle_pids};
 	delete $self->{poll_pids};
 	delete $self->{opendirs};
 	PublicInbox::DS->Reset;
-	%SIG = (%SIG, %{$self->{sig}}, CHLD => 'DEFAULT');
+	my $sig = delete $self->{sig};
+	$sig->{CHLD} = 'DEFAULT';
+	@SIG{keys %$sig} = values %$sig;
 	PublicInbox::DS::sig_setmask($self->{oldset});
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm
index 588e7b9408617e1fb92adef2a7b91dde3014820d..b962fa848c8ada9e0b3b029876cce808deb194a5 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ 	}
 
 	# run in parallel:
 	my %pids;
-	local %SIG = %SIG;
+	local @SIG{keys %SIG} = values %SIG;
 	setup_signals(\&kill_pids, \%pids);
 	while (@$queue) {
 		while (scalar(keys(%pids)) < $max && scalar(@$queue)) {
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ 		$opt->{reindex} = { from => $ibx->version == 1 ? '' : [] };
 		PublicInbox::SearchIdx::load_xapian_writable();
 	}
 
-	local %SIG = %SIG;
+	local @SIG{keys %SIG} = values %SIG;
 	setup_signals();
 	$ibx->with_umask(\&_run, $ibx, $cb, $opt);
 }
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ 	}
 	$pr->("$pfx `".join(' ', @$cmd)."'\n") if $pr;
 	push @$cmd, $src, $dst;
 	my ($rd, $pid);
-	local %SIG = %SIG;
+	local @SIG{keys %SIG} = values %SIG;
 	setup_signals(\&kill_compact, \$pid);
 	($rd, $pid) = popen_rd($cmd, undef, $rdr);
 	while (<$rd>) {
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ 		$src = $XapianDatabase->new($old);
 	}
 
 	my ($tmp, $ft);
-	local %SIG = %SIG;
+	local @SIG{keys %SIG} = values %SIG;
 	if ($opt->{compact}) {
 		my ($dir) = ($new =~ m!(.*?/)[^/]+/*\z!);
 		same_fs_or_die($dir, $new);
diff --git a/t/run.perl b/t/run.perl
index e5ee0ade3de72ca57467e27f72f128b27484de0e..0fe6d08bb9c4c78a87de11a055a5bf61262baf61 100755
--- a/t/run.perl
+++ b/t/run.perl
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ 	my ($j, $rd, $wr, $todo) = @_;
 	my $pid = fork // DIE "fork: $!";
 	if ($pid == 0) {
 		close $wr if $wr;
+		$SIG{USR1} = undef; # undo parent $SIG{USR1}
 		$worker = $$;
 		while (1) {
 			my $r = sysread($rd, my $buf, UINT_SIZE);