diff --git a/src/event.c b/src/event.c
index e1e0989..c391521 100644
--- a/src/event.c
+++ b/src/event.c
@@ -695,7 +695,5 @@ getevent(XEvent ev)
           break;
      }
 
-     wait((int[]){0});
-
      return;
 }
diff --git a/src/init.c b/src/init.c
index 21b01e0..2e8e168 100644
--- a/src/init.c
+++ b/src/init.c
@@ -55,12 +55,24 @@ const func_name_list_t layout_list[] =
      { NULL, NULL }
 };
 
+static void sigchld(int);
+
+static void
+sigchld(int sig)
+{
+     (void)sig;
+     if (signal(SIGCHLD, sigchld) == SIG_ERR)
+          warn("signal(SIGCHLD)");
+     while (waitpid(-1, NULL, WNOHANG) > 0);
+}
+
 /** Init WMFS
 */
 void
 init(void)
 {
      /* First init */
+     sigchld(0);
      ewmh_init_hints();
      init_conf();
      init_gc();
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index f3147c1..7cd4edc 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 *      OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 */
 
+#include <string.h>
 #include "wmfs.h"
 
 /** malloc with error support and size_t overflow protection
@@ -252,15 +253,14 @@ alias_to_str(char *conf_choice)
  * \param cmd Command
  * \return child pid
 */
-int
+pid_t
 spawn(const char *format, ...)
 {
      char *sh = NULL;
      char cmd[512];
      va_list ap;
-     pid_t pid, ret;
-     int p[2];
      size_t len;
+     pid_t pid;
 
      va_start(ap, format);
      len = vsnprintf(cmd, sizeof(cmd), format, ap);
@@ -275,48 +275,18 @@ spawn(const char *format, ...)
      if(!(sh = getenv("SHELL")))
           sh = "/bin/sh";
 
-     if (pipe(p) == -1)
-     {
-          warn("pipe");
-          return -1;
-     }
-
      if((pid = fork()) == 0)
      {
-          close(p[0]);
-          if((pid = fork()) == 0)
-          {
-               if(dpy)
-                    close(ConnectionNumber(dpy));
-               setsid();
-               execl(sh, sh, "-c", cmd, (char*)NULL);
-               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-          }
-
-          if (sizeof(pid_t) != write(p[1], &pid, sizeof(pid_t)))
-               warn("write");
-
-          close(p[1]);
-          exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
-     }
-     else if (pid != -1)
-     {
-          close(p[1]);
-          if (sizeof(pid_t) != read(p[0], &ret, sizeof(pid_t)))
-          {
-               warn("read");
-               ret = -1;
-          }
-          close(p[0]);
-          waitpid(pid, NULL, 0);
-     }
-     else
-     {
-          warn("fork");
-          ret = -1;
+          if(dpy)
+               close(ConnectionNumber(dpy));
+          setsid();
+          execl(sh, sh, "-c", cmd, (char*)NULL);
+          err(1, "execl(%s)", cmd);
      }
+     if (pid == -1)
+          warn("fork()");
 
-     return ret;
+     return pid;
 }
 
 /** Swap two pointer.
diff --git a/src/wmfs.c b/src/wmfs.c
index 0a6c8b6..bb65499 100644
--- a/src/wmfs.c
+++ b/src/wmfs.c
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ quit(void)
 
      /* kill status script */
      if (conf.status_pid != (pid_t)-1)
-         kill(conf.status_pid, SIGQUIT);
+         kill(conf.status_pid, SIGTERM);
 
      return;
 }
diff --git a/src/wmfs.h b/src/wmfs.h
index 48f325c..ebe5e35 100644
--- a/src/wmfs.h
+++ b/src/wmfs.h
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ Layout layout_name_to_struct(Layout lt[], char *name, int n, const func_name_lis
 char* alias_to_str(char *conf_choice);
 /* }}} */
 char *char_to_str(const char c);
-int spawn(const char *str, ...);
+pid_t spawn(const char *str, ...);
 void swap_ptr(void **x, void **y);
 void uicb_spawn(uicb_t);
 char *clean_value(char *str);