diff --git a/man/runscript.8 b/man/runscript.8
index dbc0b7dc..dd934c4b 100644
--- a/man/runscript.8
+++ b/man/runscript.8
@@ -111,6 +111,11 @@ Daemon to start or stop via
 if no start or stop function is defined by the service.
 .It Ar command_args
 List of arguments to pass to the daemon when starting.
+.It Ar command_background
+Set this to "true", "yes" or "1" (case-insensitive) to force the daemon into
+the background. This implies the "--make-pidfile" and "--pidfile" option of
+.Xr start-stop-daemon 8
+so the pidfile variable must be set.
 .It Ar pidfile
 Pidfile to use for the above defined command.
 .It Ar name
diff --git a/sh/runscript.sh.in b/sh/runscript.sh.in
index 470f04c6..e042be6d 100644
--- a/sh/runscript.sh.in
+++ b/sh/runscript.sh.in
@@ -124,7 +124,11 @@ start()
 	local _background=
 	ebegin "Starting ${name:-$RC_SVCNAME}"
 	if yesno "${command_background}"; then
-		_background="--background --pidfile"
+		if [ -z "${pidfile}" ]; then
+			eend 1 "command_background option used but no pidfile specified"
+			return 1
+		fi
+		_background="--background --make-pidfile --pidfile"
 	fi
 	if yesno "$start_inactive"; then
 		local _inactive=false