diff --git a/finit-alt.c b/finit-alt.c
index c2f15887..b54c6320 100644
--- a/finit-alt.c
+++ b/finit-alt.c
@@ -143,7 +143,6 @@ int main()
 	fd_set rfds;
 	int ctl;
 	struct init_request req;
-	struct timespec timeout;
 #endif
 
 	puts("finit-alt " VERSION " (built " __DATE__ " by " WHOAMI ")");
@@ -420,8 +419,6 @@ int main()
 #ifdef LISTEN_INITCTL
 	mkfifo("/dev/initctl", 0600);
 	ctl = open("/dev/initctl", O_RDONLY);
-	timeout.tv_sec = 0;
-	timeout.tv_nsec = 100000000;
 #endif
 
 	while (1) {
@@ -435,7 +432,7 @@ int main()
 			continue;
 		}
 
-		if (pselect(ctl + 1, &rfds, NULL, NULL, NULL, &nmask) < 0)
+		if (pselect(ctl + 1, &rfds, NULL, NULL, NULL, &nmask) <= 0)
 			continue;
 
 		read(ctl, &req, sizeof (req));