diff --git a/ejabberdctl.template b/ejabberdctl.template
index 758a85bca..4085492ac 100755
--- a/ejabberdctl.template
+++ b/ejabberdctl.template
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ set_dist_client()
 exec_cmd()
 {
     case $EXEC_CMD in
-        as_install_user) su -s /bin/sh -c '"$0" "$@"' "$INSTALLUSER" -- "$@" ;;
+        as_install_user) su -s /bin/sh -c 'exec "$0" "$@"' "$INSTALLUSER" -- "$@" ;;
         as_current_user) "$@" ;;
     esac
 }