diff --git a/daemon.c b/daemon.c
index 1cef3098d2..8c317bed4a 100644
--- a/daemon.c
+++ b/daemon.c
@@ -1118,7 +1118,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		struct sockaddr *peer = (struct sockaddr *)&ss;
 		socklen_t slen = sizeof(ss);
 
-		freopen("/dev/null", "w", stderr);
+		if (!freopen("/dev/null", "w", stderr))
+			die("failed to redirect stderr to /dev/null: %s",
+			    strerror(errno));
 
 		if (getpeername(0, peer, &slen))
 			peer = NULL;