diff --git a/conf.c b/conf.c
index 8687e43..d9b6606 100644
--- a/conf.c
+++ b/conf.c
@@ -727,9 +727,7 @@ static void usage(const char *name, FILE *f, int status)
 		"      --trace		Be extra verbose, implies --debug\n"
 		"  -q, --quiet		Don't print informational messages\n"
 		"  -f, --foreground	Don't run in background\n"
-		"    default: run in background if started from a TTY\n"
-		"  -e, --stderr		Log to stderr too\n"
-		"    default: log to system logger only if started from a TTY\n"
+		"    default: run in background\n"
 		"  -l, --log-file PATH	Log (only) to given file\n"
 		"  --log-size BYTES	Maximum size of log file\n"
 		"    default: 1 MiB\n"
@@ -1387,18 +1385,10 @@ void conf(struct ctx *c, int argc, char **argv)
 			c->quiet = 0;
 			break;
 		case 'e':
-			if (logfile)
-				die("Can't log to both file and stderr");
-
-			c->force_stderr = 1;
-			logfile = NULL;
+			warn("--stderr will be dropped soon");
 			break;
 		case 'l':
-			if (c->force_stderr)
-				die("Can't log to both stderr and file");
-
 			logfile = optarg;
-			c->force_stderr = 0;
 			break;
 		case 'q':
 			c->quiet = 1;
@@ -1631,9 +1621,6 @@ 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.1 b/passt.1
index 7b9915b..abc13d5 100644
--- a/passt.1
+++ b/passt.1
@@ -96,21 +96,14 @@ Default is to fork into background.
 
 .TP
 .BR \-e ", " \-\-stderr
-Log to standard error too.
-Default is to log to the system logger only, if started from an interactive
-terminal, and to both system logger and standard error otherwise.
+This option has no effect, and is maintained for compatibility purposes only.
 
-This option cannot be specified together with \fB--log-file\fR, because there
-might be a reasonable expectation that messages are logged to standard error as
-well as to a file, which is however not supported.
+Note that this configuration option is \fBdeprecated\fR and will be removed in a
+future version.
 
 .TP
 .BR \-l ", " \-\-log-file " " \fIPATH\fR
-Log to file \fIPATH\fR, not to standard error, and not to the system logger.
-
-This option cannot be specified together with \fB--stderr\fR, because there
-might be a reasonable expectation that messages are logged to a file as well as
-to standard error, which is however not supported.
+Log to file \fIPATH\fR, and not to the system logger.
 
 Specifying this option multiple times does \fInot\fR lead to multiple log files:
 the last given option takes effect.
diff --git a/passt.c b/passt.c
index aa9648a..19ecd68 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.foreground || (!c.force_stderr && !isatty(fileno(stderr))))
+	if (!c.foreground)
 		__openlog(log_name, 0, LOG_DAEMON);
 
 	if (!c.foreground)
diff --git a/passt.h b/passt.h
index 46d073a..21cf4c1 100644
--- a/passt.h
+++ b/passt.h
@@ -180,7 +180,6 @@ struct ip6_ctx {
  * @trace:		Enable tracing (extra debug) mode
  * @quiet:		Don't print informational messages
  * @foreground:		Run in foreground, don't log to stderr by default
- * @force_stderr:	Force logging to stderr
  * @nofile:		Maximum number of open files (ulimit -n)
  * @sock_path:		Path for UNIX domain socket
  * @pcap:		Path for packet capture file
@@ -231,7 +230,6 @@ struct ctx {
 	int trace;
 	int quiet;
 	int foreground;
-	int force_stderr;
 	int nofile;
 	char sock_path[UNIX_PATH_MAX];
 	char pcap[PATH_MAX];