diff --git a/log.c b/log.c
index 76877f7e..d456c996 100644
--- a/log.c
+++ b/log.c
@@ -498,6 +498,11 @@ static void _open_log_file(_log_iterator *it)
 	  _log_current_datetime(it, LOG_LEVEL_INFO);
 	  log_mkdir_trace(dir);
 	  _logs_printf_nl(LOG_LEVEL_INFO, __NOWHERE__, "Logging to %s (fd %d)", _log_file_path, fileno(_log_file));
+	  
+	  // if stderr should be redirected
+	  if (logfile_stderr == NO_FILE)
+	    dup2(fileno(_log_file),STDERR_FILENO);
+	  
 	  // Update the log symlink to point to the latest log file.
 	  strbuf sbsymlink = strbuf_alloca(400);
 	  strbuf_system_log_path(sbsymlink);
@@ -634,7 +639,7 @@ static void _flush_log_stderr()
     fflush(logfile_stderr);
 }
 
-void disable_log_stderr()
+void redirect_stderr_to_log()
 {
   if (logfile_stderr && logfile_stderr != NO_FILE) {
     fflush(logfile_stderr);
diff --git a/log.h b/log.h
index 1d6b880e..e99a0c60 100644
--- a/log.h
+++ b/log.h
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ int string_to_log_level(const char *text);
 // Log output control.
 extern int logLevel_NoLogFileConfigured;
 void close_log_file();
-void disable_log_stderr();
+void redirect_stderr_to_log();
 void logFlush();
 void logConfigChanged();
 
diff --git a/server.c b/server.c
index 1461b934..1c156fdd 100644
--- a/server.c
+++ b/server.c
@@ -754,7 +754,6 @@ static int app_server_start(const struct cli_parsed *parsed, struct cli_context
 	     */
 	    DEBUG(verbose, "Grand-Child Process, reopening log");
 	    close_log_file();
-	    disable_log_stderr();
 	    int fd;
 	    if ((fd = open("/dev/null", O_RDWR, 0)) == -1)
 	      exit(WHY_perror("open(\"/dev/null\")"));
@@ -770,6 +769,7 @@ static int app_server_start(const struct cli_parsed *parsed, struct cli_context
 	      exit(WHYF_perror("dup2(%d,stderr)", fd));
 	    if (fd > 2)
 	      (void)close(fd);
+	    redirect_stderr_to_log();
 	    /* The execpath option is provided so that a JNI call to "start" can be made which
 	       creates a new server daemon process with the correct argv[0].  Otherwise, the servald
 	       process appears as a process with argv[0] = "org.servalproject". */