diff --git a/src/client/preload_context.cpp b/src/client/preload_context.cpp
index f31d6f7cdf910d105de79429fe5d3f9fc1c78b4f..c3d221c1b74e39b5ac0097251fb81ec6c3ece188 100644
--- a/src/client/preload_context.cpp
+++ b/src/client/preload_context.cpp
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ PreloadContext::init_logging() {
     const std::string trunc_val =
             gkfs::env::get_var(gkfs::env::LOG_OUTPUT_TRUNC);
 
-    const bool log_trunc = !(!trunc_val.empty() && trunc_val[0] == 0);
+    const bool log_trunc = (!trunc_val.empty() && trunc_val[0] != '0');
 
     gkfs::log::create_global_logger(log_opts, log_output, log_trunc
 #ifdef GKFS_DEBUG_BUILD