diff --git a/etc/tinyproxy.conf.in b/etc/tinyproxy.conf.in
index fe0c117..e1f534a 100644
--- a/etc/tinyproxy.conf.in
+++ b/etc/tinyproxy.conf.in
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@ StatFile "@pkgdatadir@/stats.html"
 # LogFile: Allows you to specify the location where information should
 # be logged to.  If you would prefer to log to syslog, then disable this
 # and enable the Syslog directive.  These directives are mutually
-# exclusive.
+# exclusive. If neither Syslog nor LogFile are specified, output goes
+# to stdout.
 #
 #LogFile "@localstatedir@/log/tinyproxy/tinyproxy.log"
 
diff --git a/src/log.c b/src/log.c
index f5a0b44..c5368b8 100644
--- a/src/log.c
+++ b/src/log.c
@@ -70,7 +70,14 @@ static unsigned int logging_initialized = FALSE;     /* boolean */
  */
 int open_log_file (const char *log_file_name)
 {
-        log_file_fd = create_file_safely (log_file_name, FALSE);
+        if (log_file_name == NULL) {
+                if(config.godaemon == FALSE)
+                        log_file_fd = fileno(stdout);
+                else
+                        log_file_fd = -1;
+        } else {
+                log_file_fd = create_file_safely (log_file_name, FALSE);
+        }
         return log_file_fd;
 }
 
@@ -79,7 +86,7 @@ int open_log_file (const char *log_file_name)
  */
 void close_log_file (void)
 {
-        if (log_file_fd < 0) {
+        if (log_file_fd < 0 || log_file_fd == fileno(stdout)) {
                 return;
         }
 
@@ -108,6 +115,9 @@ void log_message (int level, const char *fmt, ...)
 
         ssize_t ret;
 
+        if(!config.syslog && log_file_fd == -1)
+                return;
+
 #ifdef NDEBUG
         /*
          * Figure out if we should write the message or not.
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 50cacca..e52b4b2 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ static void initialize_config_defaults (struct config_s *conf)
         conf->errorpages = NULL;
         conf->stathost = safestrdup (TINYPROXY_STATHOST);
         conf->idletimeout = MAX_IDLE_TIME;
-        conf->logf_name = safestrdup (LOCALSTATEDIR "/log/tinyproxy/tinyproxy.log");
+        conf->logf_name = NULL;
         conf->pidpath = NULL;
 }
 
@@ -415,8 +415,13 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
                 anonymous_insert ("Content-Type");
         }
 
-        if (config.godaemon == TRUE)
+        if (config.godaemon == TRUE) {
+                if (!config.syslog && config.logf_name == NULL)
+                        fprintf(stderr, "WARNING: logging deactivated "
+                                "(can't log to stdout when daemonized)\n");
+
                 makedaemon ();
+        }
 
         if (set_signal_handler (SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN) == SIG_ERR) {
                 fprintf (stderr, "%s: Could not set the \"SIGPIPE\" signal.\n",