diff --git a/src/gossip/cmd.zig b/src/gossip/cmd.zig
index 0282d9b20..f3f9b6fe7 100644
--- a/src/gossip/cmd.zig
+++ b/src/gossip/cmd.zig
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ const IDENTITY_KEYPAIR_DIR = "/.sig";
 const IDENTITY_KEYPAIR_PATH = "/identity.key";
 
 pub fn getOrInitIdentity(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, logger: *Logger) !Keypair {
-    const home_dir = std.os.getenv("HOME") orelse return error.UnableDetectHomeDir;
+    const home_dir = try std.process.getEnvVarOwned(allocator, "HOME");
+    defer allocator.free(home_dir);
     var path = try std.mem.concat(allocator, u8, &[_][]const u8{ home_dir, IDENTITY_KEYPAIR_DIR, IDENTITY_KEYPAIR_PATH });
 
     if (std.fs.openFileAbsolute(path, .{})) |file| {