diff --git a/doc/ChangeLog.md b/doc/ChangeLog.md
index ae0635bb..35c61552 100644
--- a/doc/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/doc/ChangeLog.md
@@ -3,6 +3,31 @@ Change Log
 
 All relevant changes are documented in this file.
 
+[Unreleased]
+------------
+
+### Changes
+
+- Restart log now spells out the signal name and flags core dumps,
+  e.g. `killed by SIGKILL` or `killed by SIGSEGV, core dumped`, in
+  place of the bare numeric `by signal: N`.  Gives operators a much
+  stronger breadcrumb when a daemon dies unexpectedly
+
+### Fixes
+
+- Remove stale daemon-owned (`pid:!`) pidfiles after unclean exits.
+  When a daemon dies via SIGKILL/OOM/segfault, or exits early during
+  startup, its pidfile lingers and can prevent the next instance from
+  starting -- `dbus-daemon` for example refuses to start when its
+  pidfile already exists, so Finit's restart loop gives up.  Finit now
+  drops the file when it still names the just-reaped PID and that PID
+  is no longer alive (the liveness check guards against PID reuse).
+  This is a controlled exception to the long-standing rule that Finit
+  does not touch service-owned pidfiles
+- Fix misspelled `SIGUNKOWN` returned by `sig_name()` for unknown
+  signal numbers, now spelled correctly as `SIGUNKNOWN`.  Surfaced by
+  the new restart log above
+
 [4.17][] - 2026-04-28
 ---------------------
 
diff --git a/doc/config/services.md b/doc/config/services.md
index a315b372..a65b037c 100644
--- a/doc/config/services.md
+++ b/doc/config/services.md
@@ -31,6 +31,14 @@ basename of the binary to guess the PID file to watch for the PID:
 `/var/run/ntpd.pid`.  If Finit guesses wrong, you have to submit the
 full `pid:!/path/to/file.pid`.
 
+With `pid:!/path`, the file belongs to the service: Finit reads it
+but does not create or remove it.  The one exception is *stale*
+cleanup — if the service dies without removing its own pidfile
+(SIGKILL, OOM, segfault), and the file still names the just-reaped
+PID, Finit removes it before the next retry.  This prevents daemons
+that refuse to start on an existing pidfile (e.g. `dbus-daemon`)
+from getting stuck in a crash-restart loop.
+
 **Example:**
 
 In the case of `ospfd` (below), we omit the `-d` flag (daemonize) to
diff --git a/src/pid.c b/src/pid.c
index 16f97b59..60994061 100644
--- a/src/pid.c
+++ b/src/pid.c
@@ -201,7 +201,10 @@ int pid_file_set(svc_t *svc, char *file, int not)
  * pid:!foo          --> !/run/foo.pid
  * pid:!/run/foo.pid --> !/run/foo.pid
  *
- * Note, nothing is created or removed by Finit in this latter form.
+ * Nothing is created or removed by Finit in this latter form, with one
+ * exception: a verifiably stale pidfile (still names the just-reaped
+ * PID, and that PID is no longer alive) is removed so the next instance
+ * can start.  See service_clean_pidfile() in src/service.c.
  */
 int pid_file_parse(svc_t *svc, char *arg)
 {