lib/PublicInbox/PktOp.pm | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/PktOp.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/PktOp.pm
index 12839e71a8a11d8eabb067d8b0d9dd3c98fac960..59b37ff8129c3f8c6ac59e6115f01af0c50688cd 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/PktOp.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/PktOp.pm
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ 			$self->close;
 			die "recv: $!";
 		}
 		my ($cmd, $pargs) = split(/\0/, $msg, 2);
-		my $op = $self->{ops}->{$cmd // $msg};
+		my $op = $self->{ops}->{$cmd //= $msg};
 		die "BUG: unknown message: `$cmd'" unless $op;
 		my ($sub, @args) = @$op;
 		$sub->(@args, $pargs ? ipc_thaw($pargs) : ());