diff --git a/pkg/cli/demo.go b/pkg/cli/demo.go
index eaf5359010d4..1dbcbdbc4744 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/demo.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/demo.go
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ func runDemoInternal(
 
 		// Only print details about the telemetry configuration if the
 		// user has control over it.
-		if cluster.TelemetryOptOut() {
+		if cluster.TelemetryOptOut {
 			cliCtx.PrintlnUnlessEmbedded("#\n# Telemetry disabled by configuration.")
 		} else {
 			cliCtx.PrintlnUnlessEmbedded("#\n" +
diff --git a/pkg/clusterversion/cockroach_versions.go b/pkg/clusterversion/cockroach_versions.go
index 9c69e3b31f85..f1a2c8266d95 100644
--- a/pkg/clusterversion/cockroach_versions.go
+++ b/pkg/clusterversion/cockroach_versions.go
@@ -615,6 +615,11 @@ const (
 	finalVersion = invalidVersionKey
 )
 
+// N.B. EnvOrDefaultBool has the desired side-effect of populating envVarRegistry.cache.
+// It has to be invoked during init; otherwise, cli/start.go:reportConfiguration will not report the
+// value of this environment variable in the server log, upon startup.
+var allowUpgradeToDev = envutil.EnvOrDefaultBool("COCKROACH_UPGRADE_TO_DEV_VERSION", false)
+
 var versionsSingleton = func() keyedVersions {
 	if developmentBranch {
 		// If this is a dev branch, we offset every version +1M major versions into
@@ -639,7 +644,7 @@ var versionsSingleton = func() keyedVersions {
 		// renumber only 2-4 to be +1M. It would then step from 3 "up" to 1000002 --
 		// which conceptually is actually back down to 2 -- then back to to 1000003,
 		// then on to 1000004, etc.
-		skipFirst := envutil.EnvOrDefaultBool("COCKROACH_UPGRADE_TO_DEV_VERSION", false)
+		skipFirst := allowUpgradeToDev
 		const devOffset = 1000000
 		first := true
 		for i := range rawVersionsSingleton {
diff --git a/pkg/roachprod/config/config.go b/pkg/roachprod/config/config.go
index 59e7b54fd192..026ef51288a4 100644
--- a/pkg/roachprod/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/roachprod/config/config.go
@@ -86,12 +86,11 @@ func DefaultEnvVars() []string {
 		// when moving snapshots around, though.
 		// (For other perf. related knobs, see https://github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/issues/17165)
 		"COCKROACH_ENABLE_RPC_COMPRESSION=false",
-		// Get rid of an annoying popup in the UI.
-		"COCKROACH_UI_RELEASE_NOTES_SIGNUP_DISMISSED=true",
 		// Allow upgrading a stable release data-dir to a dev version.
 		// N.B. many roachtests which perform upgrade scenarios require this env. var after changes in [1]; otherwise,
 		// the tests will fail even on release branches when attempting to upgrade previous (stable) release to an alpha.
 		// [1] https://github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pull/87468
+		// TODO(SR): should remove this in light of https://github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/issues/92608
 		"COCKROACH_UPGRADE_TO_DEV_VERSION=true",
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/server/server.go b/pkg/server/server.go
index 91570b5168ea..d982bacb3617 100644
--- a/pkg/server/server.go
+++ b/pkg/server/server.go
@@ -1724,7 +1724,7 @@ func (s *Server) PreStart(ctx context.Context) error {
 	}
 
 	// If enabled, start reporting diagnostics.
-	if s.cfg.StartDiagnosticsReporting && !cluster.TelemetryOptOut() {
+	if s.cfg.StartDiagnosticsReporting && !cluster.TelemetryOptOut {
 		s.startDiagnostics(workersCtx)
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/server/tenant.go b/pkg/server/tenant.go
index 9682ea4fb5ea..5710aa2c5c55 100644
--- a/pkg/server/tenant.go
+++ b/pkg/server/tenant.go
@@ -582,7 +582,7 @@ func (s *SQLServerWrapper) PreStart(ctx context.Context) error {
 	}
 
 	// If enabled, start reporting diagnostics.
-	if s.sqlServer.cfg.StartDiagnosticsReporting && !cluster.TelemetryOptOut() {
+	if s.sqlServer.cfg.StartDiagnosticsReporting && !cluster.TelemetryOptOut {
 		s.startDiagnostics(workersCtx)
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/settings/cluster/cluster_settings.go b/pkg/settings/cluster/cluster_settings.go
index b8f863e1fd3a..7a1721a772c1 100644
--- a/pkg/settings/cluster/cluster_settings.go
+++ b/pkg/settings/cluster/cluster_settings.go
@@ -69,11 +69,6 @@ type OverridesInformer interface {
 	IsOverridden(settingName string) bool
 }
 
-// TelemetryOptOut is a place for controlling whether to opt out of telemetry or not.
-func TelemetryOptOut() bool {
-	return envutil.EnvOrDefaultBool("COCKROACH_SKIP_ENABLING_DIAGNOSTIC_REPORTING", false)
-}
-
 // NoSettings is used when a func requires a Settings but none is available
 // (for example, a CLI subcommand that does not connect to a cluster).
 var NoSettings *Settings // = nil
@@ -92,6 +87,9 @@ const (
 	CPUProfileWithLabels
 )
 
+// TelemetryOptOut is a place for controlling whether to opt out of telemetry or not.
+var TelemetryOptOut = envutil.EnvOrDefaultBool("COCKROACH_SKIP_ENABLING_DIAGNOSTIC_REPORTING", false)
+
 // CPUProfileType returns the type of CPU profile being recorded, if any.
 // This can be used by moving parts across the system to add profiler labels
 // which are too expensive to be enabled at all times. If no profile is
diff --git a/pkg/upgrade/upgrades/permanent_upgrades.go b/pkg/upgrade/upgrades/permanent_upgrades.go
index 33f6f64e6790..8718b06a01c9 100644
--- a/pkg/upgrade/upgrades/permanent_upgrades.go
+++ b/pkg/upgrade/upgrades/permanent_upgrades.go
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ func optInToDiagnosticsStatReporting(
 	ctx context.Context, _ clusterversion.ClusterVersion, deps upgrade.TenantDeps,
 ) error {
 	// We're opting-out of the automatic opt-in. See discussion in updates.go.
-	if cluster.TelemetryOptOut() {
+	if cluster.TelemetryOptOut {
 		return nil
 	}
 	_, err := deps.InternalExecutor.Exec(