diff --git a/servers/slapd/config.c b/servers/slapd/config.c
index 8b9ec0f5f0..85a8eda5ec 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/config.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/config.c
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ int config_set_vals(ConfigTable *Conf, ConfigArgs *c) {
 			if ( !c->cr_msg[0] ) {
 				snprintf( c->cr_msg, sizeof( c->cr_msg ), "<%s> handler exited with %d",
 					c->argv[0], rc );
-				Debug(LDAP_DEBUG_CONFIG, "%s: %s!\n",
+				Debug( LDAP_DEBUG_ANY, "%s: %s!\n",
 					c->log, c->cr_msg );
 			}
 			return(ARG_BAD_CONF);
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ int config_set_vals(ConfigTable *Conf, ConfigArgs *c) {
 		else {
 			snprintf( c->cr_msg, sizeof( c->cr_msg ), "<%s> offset is missing base pointer",
 				c->argv[0] );
-			Debug(LDAP_DEBUG_CONFIG, "%s: %s!\n",
+			Debug( LDAP_DEBUG_ANY, "%s: %s!\n",
 				c->log, c->cr_msg );
 			return(ARG_BAD_CONF);
 		}
diff --git a/servers/slapd/logging.c b/servers/slapd/logging.c
index cb0fe6f974..ce2d292b04 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/logging.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/logging.c
@@ -118,22 +118,28 @@ int
 logfile_open( const char *path )
 {
 	struct stat st;
-	int fd;
+	int fd, saved_errno;
 
 	fd = open( path, O_CREAT|O_WRONLY, 0640 );
-	if ( fd < 0 )
-		return errno;
+	if ( fd < 0 ) {
+		saved_errno = errno;
+fail:
+		logfile_only = 0;	/* make sure something gets output */
+		return saved_errno;
+	}
 
 	if ( fstat( fd, &st ) ) {
-		int saved_errno = errno;
+		saved_errno = errno;
 		close( fd );
-		return saved_errno;
+		goto fail;
 	}
 
 	if ( !logfile_path[0] ) {
 		logpathlen = strlen( path );
-		if ( logpathlen >= sizeof(logfile_path) )
-			return ENAMETOOLONG;
+		if ( logpathlen >= sizeof(logfile_path) ) {
+			saved_errno = ENAMETOOLONG;
+			goto fail;
+		}
 		strcpy( logfile_path, path );
 		strcpy( logpaths[0], path );
 		strcpy( logpaths[1], path );
diff --git a/servers/slapd/slapcommon.c b/servers/slapd/slapcommon.c
index 8f471d27d1..031962b132 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/slapcommon.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/slapcommon.c
@@ -574,6 +574,7 @@ slap_tool_init(
 			break;
 		}
 	}
+	slap_debug_orig = slap_debug;
 
 #if defined(LDAP_SYSLOG) && defined(LDAP_DEBUG)
 	if ( start_syslog ) {