diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 2b23ad0..6d27ccd 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ corrections:
 	fixed a compile problem caused by size_t/socklen_t mismatch on 64bit
 	systems
 
+	Debian bug 531078: socat execs children with SIGCHLD ignored; corrected
+	to default. Thanks to Martin Dorey for reporting this bug.
+
 	docu mentions option so-bindtodev but correct name is so-bindtodevice. 
 	Thanks to Jim Zimmerman for reporting.
 
diff --git a/xio-progcall.c b/xio-progcall.c
index 2cffb01..11cfb51 100644
--- a/xio-progcall.c
+++ b/xio-progcall.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* source: xio-progcall.c */
-/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2009 */
+/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2012 */
 /* Published under the GNU General Public License V.2, see file COPYING */
 
 /* this file contains common code dealing with program calls (exec, system) */
@@ -643,8 +643,10 @@ Warn1("xio-progcall.c: fd->howtoshut == %d", fd->howtoshut);
       gid_t group;
 
       if (withfork) {
-	 if (Signal(SIGCHLD, SIG_IGN) == SIG_ERR) {
-	    Warn1("signal(SIGCHLD, SIG_IGN): %s", strerror(errno));
+	 /* The child should have default handling for SIGCHLD. */
+	 /* In particular, it's not defined whether ignoring SIGCHLD is inheritable. */
+	 if (Signal(SIGCHLD, SIG_DFL) == SIG_ERR) {
+	    Warn1("signal(SIGCHLD, SIG_DFL): %s", strerror(errno));
 	 }
 
 	 /* dup2() the fds to desired values, close old fds, and apply late