diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 4b1665c6ee..4f4e5e97cc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ git-annex (8.20200720.2) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * move, copy --to: Sped up seeking files by 2x.
   * drop: Sped up seeking files to drop by 2x, and also some performance
     improvements to checking numcopies.
+  * Deal with unusual IFS settings in the shell scripts for linux
+    standalone and OSX app.
+    Thanks, Yaroslav Halchenko
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Tue, 21 Jul 2020 12:58:30 -0400
 
diff --git a/doc/bugs/standalone_shim_is_segfaulting_if_IFS__61____36____39____92__013__39__.mdwn b/doc/bugs/standalone_shim_is_segfaulting_if_IFS__61____36____39____92__013__39__.mdwn
index bee64d7f7f..03e6a5fd90 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/standalone_shim_is_segfaulting_if_IFS__61____36____39____92__013__39__.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/standalone_shim_is_segfaulting_if_IFS__61____36____39____92__013__39__.mdwn
@@ -24,3 +24,5 @@ most likely it is just a matter of sanitizing this variable in `runshell` or ali
 
 [[!meta author=yoh]]
 [[!tag projects/datalad]]
+
+> [[fixed|done]] --[[Joey]]
diff --git a/doc/bugs/standalone_shim_is_segfaulting_if_IFS__61____36____39____92__013__39__/comment_3_ba1b34111d47d58517ea64f537214e98._comment b/doc/bugs/standalone_shim_is_segfaulting_if_IFS__61____36____39____92__013__39__/comment_3_ba1b34111d47d58517ea64f537214e98._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1416c7cd12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/bugs/standalone_shim_is_segfaulting_if_IFS__61____36____39____92__013__39__/comment_3_ba1b34111d47d58517ea64f537214e98._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="joey"
+ subject="""comment 3"""
+ date="2020-07-24T18:43:32Z"
+ content="""
+Applied a version of the patch without the :- , although it seems the :- is
+not a bashism after all. It still makes no sense to me unless there's some
+other setting that might make the shell blow up when IFS isn't set.
+"""]]
diff --git a/standalone/linux/skel/runshell b/standalone/linux/skel/runshell
index d442627594..4e3feb92ee 100755
--- a/standalone/linux/skel/runshell
+++ b/standalone/linux/skel/runshell
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 
 set -e
 
+orig_IFS="${IFS}"
+unset IFS
+
 os="$(uname -o 2>/dev/null || true)"
 base="$(dirname "$0")"
 
@@ -238,6 +241,11 @@ else
 	cmd=sh
 fi
 
+if [ -n "${orig_IFS}" ]; then
+	IFS="${orig_IFS}"
+	export IFS
+fi
+
 if [ -z "$tbase" ]; then
 	if [ "$useproot" ]; then
 		exec proot "$cmd" "$@"
diff --git a/standalone/osx/git-annex.app/Contents/MacOS/runshell b/standalone/osx/git-annex.app/Contents/MacOS/runshell
index 557c59e224..5572a9fd65 100755
--- a/standalone/osx/git-annex.app/Contents/MacOS/runshell
+++ b/standalone/osx/git-annex.app/Contents/MacOS/runshell
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 
 set -e
 
+orig_IFS="${IFS}"
+unset IFS
+
 base="$(dirname "$0")"
 
 if [ ! -d "$base" ]; then
@@ -85,6 +88,11 @@ export GIT_ANNEX_DIR
 GIT_ANNEX_STANDLONE_ENV="PATH GIT_EXEC_PATH GIT_TEMPLATE_DIR"
 export GIT_ANNEX_STANDLONE_ENV
 
+if [ -n "${orig_IFS}" ]; then
+	IFS="${orig_IFS}"
+	export IFS
+fi
+
 if [ "$1" ]; then
 	cmd="$1"
 	shift 1