Can't disable Mariadb general query log

Hi folks,

I'm at a loss here. I've had a mysql and now mariadb (MariaDB 10.4.13-MariaDB-log) slave with query logging enabled for years, but I'm now trying to turn it off using the my.cnf option and it does not seem to stick on server restarts.

What's weird is the other slaves with the exact same my.cnf don't log, but this one slave refuses to stop doing it.

To clarify, SET global general_log = 0 does stop logging but the setting comes back on after a restart.

I'm turning it off in my.cnf like this:
general_log = off
#Enter a name for the query log file. Otherwise a default name will be used.
general_log_file=/var/log/mysql/mysqld-queries.log

Commenting out general_log_file simply changes it to go to a different location. I also tried general_log=0 without any luck.

ps shows it as running with:
mysql 27580 1 99 16:26 ? 00:01:40 /usr/sbin/mysqld --defaults-file=/etc/my.cnf --user=mysql
So --general-log isn't getting set on command line.

What am I missing? Why does it insist on getting turned on and refuses to listen to the setting? Is it a bug?

Thanks.

Sincerely,
Artem