diff --git a/src/srun/opt.c b/src/srun/opt.c
index 5aede774cb9039ce2ba693dc81e959e9f2272fdd..ce62ca63b330e3beefcfdde28c977a8ad0126ed0 100644
--- a/src/srun/opt.c
+++ b/src/srun/opt.c
@@ -949,7 +949,7 @@ static void _opt_default()
 	opt.account  = NULL;
 	opt.comment  = NULL;
 
-	opt.distribution = SLURM_DIST_CYCLIC;
+	opt.distribution = SLURM_DIST_UNKNOWN;
 	opt.plane_size   = 0;
 
 	opt.ofname = NULL;