diff --git a/conf.c b/conf.c
index 3db8d4d..e1f5422 100644
--- a/conf.c
+++ b/conf.c
@@ -1217,6 +1217,7 @@ void conf(struct ctx *c, int argc, char **argv)
 		{"netns-only",	no_argument,		NULL,		20 },
 		{ 0 },
 	};
+	const char *logname = (c->mode == MODE_PASTA) ? "pasta" : "passt";
 	char userns[PATH_MAX] = { 0 }, netns[PATH_MAX] = { 0 };
 	bool copy_addrs_opt = false, copy_routes_opt = false;
 	struct in6_addr *dns6 = c->ip6.dns, dns6_tmp;
@@ -1619,10 +1620,10 @@ void conf(struct ctx *c, int argc, char **argv)
 
 	conf_ugid(runas, &uid, &gid);
 
-	if (logfile) {
-		logfile_init(c->mode == MODE_PASTA ? "pasta" : "passt",
-			     logfile, logsize);
-	}
+	if (logfile)
+		logfile_init(logname, logfile, logsize);
+	else
+		__openlog(logname, 0, LOG_DAEMON);
 
 	if (c->debug)
 		__setlogmask(LOG_UPTO(LOG_DEBUG));
diff --git a/passt.c b/passt.c
index 13f3eb6..e4d45da 100644
--- a/passt.c
+++ b/passt.c
@@ -224,8 +224,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	strncpy(argv0, argv[0], PATH_MAX - 1);
 	name = basename(argv0);
 	if (strstr(name, "pasta")) {
-		__openlog("pasta", 0, LOG_DAEMON);
-
 		sa.sa_handler = pasta_child_handler;
 		if (sigaction(SIGCHLD, &sa, NULL))
 			die_perror("Couldn't install signal handlers");
@@ -235,8 +233,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
 		c.mode = MODE_PASTA;
 	} else if (strstr(name, "passt")) {
-		__openlog("passt", 0, LOG_DAEMON);
-
 		c.mode = MODE_PASST;
 	} else {
 		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);