diff --git a/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-altcfg.conf b/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-altcfg.conf
index fbfabecd9d..f03306e798 100644
--- a/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-altcfg.conf
+++ b/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-altcfg.conf
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ DISTRO = "poky-altcfg"
 DISTROOVERRIDES = "poky:poky-altcfg"
 #DISTROOVERRIDES = "poky:linuxstdbase"
 
-INIT_MANAGER ?= "systemd"
+INIT_MANAGER:poky-altcfg = "systemd"
 # systemd isn't suitable with musl
-INIT_MANAGER:libc-musl ?= "sysvinit"
+INIT_MANAGER:poky-altcfg:libc-musl = "sysvinit"
 
 require conf/distro/include/poky-distro-alt-test-config.inc
diff --git a/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-tiny.conf b/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-tiny.conf
index 9a31068790..9c9f6f192f 100644
--- a/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-tiny.conf
+++ b/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-tiny.conf
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ DISTRO_FEATURES:class-native = "${DISTRO_FEATURES_DEFAULT} ${POKY_DEFAULT_DISTRO
 DISTRO_FEATURES:class-nativesdk = "${DISTRO_FEATURES_DEFAULT} ${POKY_DEFAULT_DISTRO_FEATURES}"
 
 # enable mdev/busybox for init
-INIT_MANAGER ?= "mdev-busybox"
+INIT_MANAGER:poky-tiny = "mdev-busybox"
 
 # FIXME: Consider adding "modules" to MACHINE_FEATURES and using that in
 # packagegroup-core-base to select modutils-initscripts or not.  Similar with "net" and
diff --git a/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky.conf b/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky.conf
index 179329f5fa..5790094ea9 100644
--- a/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky.conf
+++ b/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky.conf
@@ -65,3 +65,5 @@ INHERIT += "uninative"
 
 BB_SIGNATURE_HANDLER ?= "OEEquivHash"
 BB_HASHSERVE ??= "auto"
+
+INIT_MANAGER = "sysvinit"