diff --git a/lib/string.h b/lib/string.h
index 9af49b9e..bf0b7cb0 100644
--- a/lib/string.h
+++ b/lib/string.h
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ static inline char *xbasename(const char *str)
   return s ? s+1 : (char *) str;
 }
 
+static inline char *
+xstrdup(const char *c)
+{
+  size_t l = strlen(c) + 1;
+  char *z = xmalloc(l);
+  memcpy(z, c, l);
+  return z;
+}
+
 #define ROUTER_ID_64_LENGTH 23
 
 #endif
diff --git a/sysdep/unix/log.c b/sysdep/unix/log.c
index 1fd64426..b89e6b7a 100644
--- a/sysdep/unix/log.c
+++ b/sysdep/unix/log.c
@@ -288,18 +288,22 @@ log_switch(int debug, list *l, char *new_syslog_name)
   current_log_list = l;
 
 #ifdef HAVE_SYSLOG
-  char *old_syslog_name = current_syslog_name;
-  current_syslog_name = new_syslog_name;
-
-  if (old_syslog_name && new_syslog_name &&
-      !strcmp(old_syslog_name, new_syslog_name))
+  if (current_syslog_name && new_syslog_name &&
+      !strcmp(current_syslog_name, new_syslog_name))
     return;
 
-  if (old_syslog_name)
+  if (current_syslog_name)
+  {
     closelog();
+    xfree(current_syslog_name);
+    current_syslog_name = NULL;
+  }
 
   if (new_syslog_name)
-    openlog(new_syslog_name, LOG_CONS | LOG_NDELAY, LOG_DAEMON);
+  {
+    current_syslog_name = xstrdup(new_syslog_name);
+    openlog(current_syslog_name, LOG_CONS | LOG_NDELAY, LOG_DAEMON);
+  }
 #endif
 }