diff --git a/doc/lightningd-config.5 b/doc/lightningd-config.5
index 641d1c1b4..9bb2c166c 100644
--- a/doc/lightningd-config.5
+++ b/doc/lightningd-config.5
@@ -210,7 +210,8 @@ as well\.
 
 
  \fBdaemon\fR
-Run in the background, suppress stdout and stderr\.
+Run in the background, suppress stdout and stderr\.  Note that you need
+to specify \fBlog-file\fR for this case\.
 
 
  \fBconf\fR=\fIPATH\fR
@@ -607,4 +608,4 @@ Main web site: \fIhttps://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning\fR
 Note: the modules in the ccan/ directory have their own licenses, but
 the rest of the code is covered by the BSD-style MIT license\.
 
-\" SHA256STAMP:e9f294f15d8873a2332b5748179be09c1496c9e81576dc0e4546c047474289fd
+\" SHA256STAMP:8e18374d48aff1d2574667c603e36cdac81c35e09a49397dc6982f1688dd454a
diff --git a/doc/lightningd-config.5.md b/doc/lightningd-config.5.md
index edd2c4e59..8ccbfcae6 100644
--- a/doc/lightningd-config.5.md
+++ b/doc/lightningd-config.5.md
@@ -168,7 +168,8 @@ Set to 0660 to allow users with the same group to access the RPC
 as well.
 
  **daemon**
-Run in the background, suppress stdout and stderr.
+Run in the background, suppress stdout and stderr.  Note that you need
+to specify **log-file** for this case.
 
  **conf**=*PATH*
 Sets configuration file, and disable reading the normal general and network
diff --git a/lightningd/options.c b/lightningd/options.c
index 595abd8d7..586c4d386 100644
--- a/lightningd/options.c
+++ b/lightningd/options.c
@@ -726,6 +726,9 @@ static void check_config(struct lightningd *ld)
 
 	if (ld->use_proxy_always && !ld->proxyaddr)
 		fatal("--always-use-proxy needs --proxy");
+
+	if (ld->daemon_parent_fd != -1 && !ld->logfile)
+		fatal("--daemon needs --log-file");
 }
 
 static char *test_subdaemons_and_exit(struct lightningd *ld)