diff --git a/log.c b/log.c
index eb3a780..4ecc2ad 100644
--- a/log.c
+++ b/log.c
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ struct timespec	log_start;		/* Start timestamp */
 
 int		log_trace;		/* --trace mode enabled */
 bool		log_conf_parsed;	/* Logging options already parsed */
-bool		log_runtime;		/* Daemonised, or ready in foreground */
+bool		log_stderr = true;	/* Not daemonised, no shell spawned */
 
 /**
  * logtime_fmt_and_arg() - Build format and arguments to print relative log time
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ void vlogmsg(bool newline, int pri, const char *format, va_list ap)
 	}
 
 	if (debug_print || !log_conf_parsed ||
-	    (!log_runtime && (log_mask & LOG_MASK(LOG_PRI(pri))))) {
+	    (log_stderr && (log_mask & LOG_MASK(LOG_PRI(pri))))) {
 		(void)vfprintf(stderr, format, ap);
 		if (newline && format[strlen(format)] != '\n')
 			fprintf(stderr, "\n");
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ void passt_vsyslog(bool newline, int pri, const char *format, va_list ap)
 	if (newline && format[strlen(format)] != '\n')
 		n += snprintf(buf + n, BUFSIZ - n, "\n");
 
-	if (log_sock >= 0 && send(log_sock, buf, n, 0) != n && !log_runtime)
+	if (log_sock >= 0 && send(log_sock, buf, n, 0) != n && log_stderr)
 		fprintf(stderr, "Failed to send %i bytes to syslog\n", n);
 }
 
diff --git a/log.h b/log.h
index 5cb16d6..ba17f79 100644
--- a/log.h
+++ b/log.h
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ void logmsg_perror(int pri, const char *format, ...)
 
 extern int log_trace;
 extern bool log_conf_parsed;
-extern bool log_runtime;
+extern bool log_stderr;
 extern struct timespec log_start;
 
 void trace_init(int enable);
diff --git a/passt.c b/passt.c
index 6401730..ea5bece 100644
--- a/passt.c
+++ b/passt.c
@@ -290,15 +290,17 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	if (isolate_prefork(&c))
 		die("Failed to sandbox process, exiting");
 
-	if (!c.foreground)
+	if (!c.foreground) {
 		__daemon(c.pidfile_fd, devnull_fd);
-	else
+		log_stderr = false;
+	} else {
 		pidfile_write(c.pidfile_fd, getpid());
+	}
 
-	log_runtime = true;
-
-	if (pasta_child_pid)
+	if (pasta_child_pid) {
 		kill(pasta_child_pid, SIGUSR1);
+		log_stderr = false;
+	}
 
 	isolate_postfork(&c);