diff --git a/src/pulse/pulseaudio.h b/src/pulse/pulseaudio.h
index 5077e3b81..063d5e230 100644
--- a/src/pulse/pulseaudio.h
+++ b/src/pulse/pulseaudio.h
@@ -147,7 +147,8 @@
  *     and function are included by default through the journal fields
  *     `CODE_FILE`, `CODE_FUNC`, and `CODE_LINE`. Any backtrace attached to
  *     the logging message is sent through the PulseAudio-specific journal
- *     field `PULSE_BACKTRACE`.
+ *     field `PULSE_BACKTRACE`. This environment variable has no effect if
+ *     PulseAudio was compiled without systemd journal support.
  *  - `PULSE_LOG_COLORS`: If defined, enables colored logging output.
  *  - `PULSE_LOG_TIME`: If defined, include timestamps with each message.
  *  - `PULSE_LOG_FILE`: If defined, include each message originating file
diff --git a/src/pulsecore/log.c b/src/pulsecore/log.c
index 34ed0415f..3c876f695 100644
--- a/src/pulsecore/log.c
+++ b/src/pulsecore/log.c
@@ -294,10 +294,12 @@ static void init_defaults(void) {
             target_override_set = true;
         }
 
+#ifdef HAVE_SYSTEMD_JOURNAL
         if (getenv(ENV_LOG_JOURNAL)) {
             target_override = PA_LOG_JOURNAL;
             target_override_set = true;
         }
+#endif
 
         if ((e = getenv(ENV_LOG_LEVEL))) {
             maximum_level_override = (pa_log_level_t) atoi(e);