diff --git a/ejabberdctl.template b/ejabberdctl.template
index 43ceb302c..a30dabcaa 100755
--- a/ejabberdctl.template
+++ b/ejabberdctl.template
@@ -130,6 +130,14 @@ exec_iex()
 # usage
 debugwarning()
 {
+    if [ "$OSTYPE" != "cygwin" ] && [ "$OSTYPE" != "win32" ]; then
+	if [ "a$TERM" == "a" ] || [ "$TERM" == "dumb" ] ; then
+	    echo "Terminal type not supported."
+	    echo "You may have to set the TERM environnement variable to fix this."
+	    exit 8
+	fi
+    fi
+
     if [ "$EJABBERD_BYPASS_WARNINGS" != "true" ] ; then
         echo "--------------------------------------------------------------------"
         echo ""