diff --git a/conf.c b/conf.c
index 4fff2b1..8687e43 100644
--- a/conf.c
+++ b/conf.c
@@ -1631,6 +1631,9 @@ void conf(struct ctx *c, int argc, char **argv)
 
 	conf_ugid(runas, &uid, &gid);
 
+	if (!c->foreground && c->force_stderr)
+		die("Can't log to standard error if not running in foreground");
+
 	if (logfile) {
 		logfile_init(c->mode == MODE_PASTA ? "pasta" : "passt",
 			     logfile, logsize);
diff --git a/passt.c b/passt.c
index a5e2c5a..aa9648a 100644
--- a/passt.c
+++ b/passt.c
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	if (isolate_prefork(&c))
 		die("Failed to sandbox process, exiting");
 
-	if (!c.force_stderr && !isatty(fileno(stderr)))
+	if (!c.foreground || (!c.force_stderr && !isatty(fileno(stderr))))
 		__openlog(log_name, 0, LOG_DAEMON);
 
 	if (!c.foreground)