diff --git a/catkin_tools/common.py b/catkin_tools/common.py
index 6e9da424..88589d59 100644
--- a/catkin_tools/common.py
+++ b/catkin_tools/common.py
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@
 try:
     _cmd_split(u'\u00E9')
 
-    def cmd_split(s, *args, **kwargs):
-        return _cmd_split(s.decode('utf-8'), *args, **kwargs)
+    def cmd_split(s):
+        return _cmd_split(s.decode('utf-8'))
 except UnicodeEncodeError:
     cmd_split = _cmd_split
 
@@ -688,9 +688,7 @@ def parse_env_str(environ_str):
     """
 
     try:
-        # Use cmd_split with posix=False because posix mode is problematic when an
-        # environment variable is set to specific bash dollar-sign strings (e.g. $'\'\n')
-        split_envs = [e.split('=', 1) for e in cmd_split(environ_str, posix=False)]
+        split_envs = [e.split('=', 1) for e in cmd_split(environ_str)]
         return {
             e[0]: e[1] for e
             in split_envs