diff --git a/src/xinit.c b/src/xinit.c
index be997b44..f3df90b2 100644
--- a/src/xinit.c
+++ b/src/xinit.c
@@ -3004,7 +3004,7 @@ int Tcl_AppInit(Tcl_Interp *inter)
 
 
  if(tclgetboolvar("use_tclreadline") && !cli_opt_detach && !cli_opt_no_readline) {
-   tcleval( "if {![catch {package require tclreadline}] && $tcl_interactive} "
+   tcleval( "if {![catch {package require tclreadline}] && [info exists tcl_interactive] && $tcl_interactive} "
     "{"
       "::tclreadline::readline builtincompleter 0; "
       "::tclreadline::readline customcompleter completer; "