lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm | 8 ++++++--

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm
index 5adcd0ccf44ac2f13eb90b66c205de45dcf31bae..8d66cf8c35fcb9aba02aaed2286e5e4da580234c 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm
@@ -90,8 +90,12 @@ sub limiter {
 	my ($self, $name) = @_;
 	$self->{-limiters}->{$name} ||= do {
 		require PublicInbox::Qspawn;
-		my $key = "limiter.$name.max";
-		PublicInbox::Qspawn::Limiter->new($self->{$key});
+		my $max;
+		# XXX "limiter.<name>.max" was a historical mistake
+		foreach my $pfx (qw(publicinboxlimiter limiter)) {
+			$max ||= $self->{"$pfx.$name.max"};
+		}
+		PublicInbox::Qspawn::Limiter->new($max);
 	};
 }