diff --git a/service.c b/service.c
index 624a0a09..0cddf4a0 100755
--- a/service.c
+++ b/service.c
@@ -475,8 +475,10 @@ int service_register(int type, char *line, time_t mtime, char *username)
 	}
 
 	desc = strstr(line, "-- ");
-	if (desc)
+	if (desc) {
 		*desc = 0;
+		desc += 3;
+	}
 
 	cmd = strtok(line, " ");
 	if (!cmd) {
@@ -574,7 +576,7 @@ recreate:
 
 	svc->log = log;
 	if (desc)
-		strlcpy(svc->desc, desc + 3, sizeof(svc->desc));
+		strlcpy(svc->desc, desc, sizeof(svc->desc));
 
 	if (username) {
 		char *ptr = strchr(username, ':');
@@ -759,8 +761,7 @@ restart:
 			svc_set_state(svc, SVC_HALTED_STATE);
 		} else if (cond_get_agg(svc->cond) == COND_ON) {
 			if (*restart_counter >= RESPAWN_MAX) {
-				_e("%s keeps crashing, not restarting",
-				   svc->desc ? : svc->cmd);
+				_e("%s keeps crashing, not restarting", svc->desc);
 				svc->block = SVC_BLOCK_CRASHING;
 				svc_set_state(svc, SVC_HALTED_STATE);
 				break;
diff --git a/svc.c b/svc.c
index 968b6e30..bfb47094 100644
--- a/svc.c
+++ b/svc.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <strings.h>
 #include <lite/lite.h>
 
 #include "finit.h"
@@ -74,12 +75,22 @@ svc_t *svc_new(char *cmd, int id, int type)
 		svc_t *svc = &list[i];
 
 		if (svc->type == SVC_TYPE_FREE) {
+			char *desc;
+
 			memset(svc, 0, sizeof(*svc));
 			svc->type = type;
 			svc->job  = job;
 			svc->id   = id;
 			strlcpy(svc->cmd, cmd, sizeof(svc->cmd));
 
+			/* Default description, if missing */
+			desc = rindex(cmd, '/');
+			if (desc)
+				desc++;
+			else
+				desc = cmd;
+			strlcpy(svc->desc, desc, sizeof(svc->desc));
+
 			return svc;
 		}
 	}