diff --git a/connect.c b/connect.c
index 52d709e58d..db7342e4d2 100644
--- a/connect.c
+++ b/connect.c
@@ -581,6 +581,11 @@ int git_connect(int fd[2], char *url, const char *prog)
 	enum protocol protocol = PROTO_LOCAL;
 	int free_path = 0;
 
+	/* Without this we cannot rely on waitpid() to tell
+	 * what happened to our children.
+	 */
+	signal(SIGCHLD, SIG_DFL);
+
 	host = strstr(url, "://");
 	if(host) {
 		*host = '\0';
diff --git a/daemon.c b/daemon.c
index bdfe80d2e4..a19b7b5aaa 100644
--- a/daemon.c
+++ b/daemon.c
@@ -673,6 +673,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	int inetd_mode = 0;
 	int i;
 
+	/* Without this we cannot rely on waitpid() to tell
+	 * what happened to our children.
+	 */
+	signal(SIGCHLD, SIG_DFL);
+
 	for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
 		char *arg = argv[i];
 
diff --git a/merge-index.c b/merge-index.c
index 024196e7ac..190e12fb7c 100644
--- a/merge-index.c
+++ b/merge-index.c
@@ -99,6 +99,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	int i, force_file = 0;
 
+	/* Without this we cannot rely on waitpid() to tell
+	 * what happened to our children.
+	 */
+	signal(SIGCHLD, SIG_DFL);
+
 	if (argc < 3)
 		usage("git-merge-index [-o] [-q] <merge-program> (-a | <filename>*)");