diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py b/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py
index 29171fe1..74a035ef 100755
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py
@@ -79,5 +79,6 @@ def run(args=None):
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     multiprocessing.freeze_support()
     if sys.platform not in ('win32', 'darwin'):
-        multiprocessing.set_start_method('forkserver')
+        with suppress(RuntimeError):
+            multiprocessing.set_start_method('forkserver')
     sys.exit(run())