lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm        | 7 +++++--
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm | 7 -------

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index fd2b722c7bf4c3a3ac4e4b2e6f03d1072be5747a..a8fea16d3aa47077b3f761a37705acf081582c81 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ use Text::Wrap qw(wrap);
 use File::Path qw(mkpath);
 use File::Spec;
 our $quit = \&CORE::exit;
+our $current_lei;
 my ($recv_cmd, $send_cmd);
 my $GLP = Getopt::Long::Parser->new;
 $GLP->configure(qw(gnu_getopt no_ignore_case auto_abbrev));
@@ -447,7 +448,7 @@ }
 
 sub dispatch {
 	my ($self, $cmd, @argv) = @_;
-	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub { err($self, @_) };
+	local $current_lei = $self; # for __WARN__
 	return _help($self, 'no command given') unless defined($cmd);
 	my $func = "lei_$cmd";
 	$func =~ tr/-/_/;
@@ -849,7 +850,9 @@ 	# STDIN was redirected to /dev/null above, closing STDERR and
 	# STDOUT will cause the calling `lei' client process to finish
 	# reading the <$daemon> pipe.
 	openlog($path, 'pid', 'user');
-	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub { syslog('warning', "@_") };
+	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub {
+		$current_lei ? err($current_lei, @_) : syslog('warning', "@_");
+	};
 	my $on_destroy = PublicInbox::OnDestroy->new($$, sub {
 		syslog('crit', "$@") if $@;
 	});
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
index d06b6f1d63ad4a7480a6324949278722fe606ed8..68889e813d89319424ea9907d4b115da8a157652 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ package PublicInbox::LeiXSearch;
 use strict;
 use v5.10.1;
 use parent qw(PublicInbox::LeiSearch PublicInbox::IPC);
-use Sys::Syslog qw(syslog);
 
 sub new {
 	my ($class) = @_;
@@ -185,12 +184,6 @@ 		$self->wq_close;
 		read($eof_wait, my $buf, 1); # wait for close($lei->{0})
 		query_done($lei_orig); # may SIGPIPE
 	}
-}
-
-sub ipc_atfork_child {
-	my ($self) = @_;
-	$SIG{__WARN__} = sub { syslog('warning', "@_") };
-	$self->SUPER::ipc_atfork_child; # PublicInbox::IPC
 }
 
 sub ipc_atfork_prepare {