diff --git a/src/lxc/start.c b/src/lxc/start.c
index 1774ec636..604b954b3 100644
--- a/src/lxc/start.c
+++ b/src/lxc/start.c
@@ -411,14 +411,7 @@ void lxc_abort(const char *name, struct lxc_handler *handler)
 		kill(handler->pid, SIGKILL);
 }
 
-struct start_arg {
-	const char *name;
-	char *const *argv;
-	struct lxc_handler *handler;
-	int *sv;
-};
-
-static int do_start(void *arg)
+int do_start(void *arg)
 {
 	struct start_arg *start_arg = arg;
 	struct lxc_handler *handler = start_arg->handler;
@@ -465,6 +458,8 @@ static int do_start(void *arg)
 		return -1;
 	}
 
+	close(handler->sigfd);
+
 	NOTICE("exec'ing '%s'", argv[0]);
 
 	execvp(argv[0], argv);
@@ -487,6 +482,7 @@ int lxc_spawn(const char *name, struct lxc_handler *handler, char *const argv[])
 	struct start_arg start_arg = {
 		.name = name,
 		.argv = argv,
+		.sfd = -1,
 		.handler = handler,
 		.sv = sv,
 	};
diff --git a/src/lxc/start.h b/src/lxc/start.h
index e69480a57..dac371dd9 100644
--- a/src/lxc/start.h
+++ b/src/lxc/start.h
@@ -38,6 +38,15 @@ struct lxc_handler {
 	struct lxc_conf *conf;
 };
 
+struct start_arg {
+	const char *name;
+	struct lxc_handler *handler;
+	int *sv;
+	char *const *argv;
+	int sfd;
+};
+
+extern int do_start(void *arg);
 extern struct lxc_handler *lxc_init(const char *name, struct lxc_conf *);
 extern int lxc_spawn(const char *name, struct lxc_handler *handler,
 		     char *const argv[]);