diff --git a/etc/rc.conf.in b/etc/rc.conf.in
index 69a5cf24..b16aaff4 100644
--- a/etc/rc.conf.in
+++ b/etc/rc.conf.in
@@ -77,6 +77,12 @@
 #rc_crashed_stop=NO
 #rc_crashed_start=YES
 
+# Set rc_supervisor to use a program to monitor your daemons and restart
+# them when they crash.
+# Leaving this undefined uses start-stop-daemon, which is OpenRC's
+# default.
+#rc_supervisor=""
+
 # Set rc_nocolor to yes if you do not want colors displayed in OpenRC
 # output.
 #rc_nocolor=NO
diff --git a/sh/Makefile b/sh/Makefile
index ee9d74de..3f8881e8 100644
--- a/sh/Makefile
+++ b/sh/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 DIR=	${LIBEXECDIR}/sh
 SRCS=	init.sh.in functions.sh.in gendepends.sh.in \
 	openrc-run.sh.in rc-functions.sh.in tmpfiles.sh.in ${SRCS-${OS}}
-INC=	rc-mount.sh functions.sh rc-functions.sh
+INC=	rc-mount.sh functions.sh rc-functions.sh start-stop-daemon.sh
 BIN=	gendepends.sh init.sh openrc-run.sh tmpfiles.sh ${BIN-${OS}}
 
 INSTALLAFTER=	_installafter
diff --git a/sh/openrc-run.sh.in b/sh/openrc-run.sh.in
index e279f116..4d286b2a 100644
--- a/sh/openrc-run.sh.in
+++ b/sh/openrc-run.sh.in
@@ -125,72 +125,6 @@ _status()
 	fi
 }
 
-# Template start / stop / status functions
-start()
-{
-	[ -n "$command" ] || return 0
-	local _background=
-	ebegin "Starting ${name:-$RC_SVCNAME}"
-	if yesno "${command_background}"; then
-		if [ -z "${pidfile}" ]; then
-			eend 1 "command_background option used but no pidfile specified"
-			return 1
-		fi
-		_background="--background --make-pidfile"
-	fi
-	if yesno "$start_inactive"; then
-		local _inactive=false
-		service_inactive && _inactive=true
-		mark_service_inactive
-	fi
-	eval start-stop-daemon --start \
-		--exec $command \
-		${chroot:+--chroot} $chroot \
-		${procname:+--name} $procname \
-		${pidfile:+--pidfile} $pidfile \
-		$_background $start_stop_daemon_args \
-		-- $command_args
-	if eend $? "Failed to start $RC_SVCNAME"; then
-		service_set_value "command" "${command}"
-		[ -n "${chroot}" ] && service_set_value "chroot" "${chroot}"
-		[ -n "${pidfile}" ] && service_set_value "pidfile" "${pidfile}"
-		[ -n "${procname}" ] && service_set_value "procname" "${procname}"
-		return 0
-	fi
-	if yesno "$start_inactive"; then
-		if ! $_inactive; then
-			mark_service_stopped
-		fi
-	fi
-	return 1
-}
-
-stop()
-{
-	local startcommand="$(service_get_value "command")"
-	local startchroot="$(service_get_value "chroot")"
-	local startpidfile="$(service_get_value "pidfile")"
-	local startprocname="$(service_get_value "procname")"
-	command="${startcommand:-$command}"
-	chroot="${startchroot:-$chroot}"
-	pidfile="${startpidfile:-$pidfile}"
-	procname="${startprocname:-$procname}"
-	[ -n "$command" -o -n "$procname" -o -n "$pidfile" ] || return 0
-	ebegin "Stopping ${name:-$RC_SVCNAME}"
-	start-stop-daemon --stop \
-		${retry:+--retry} $retry \
-		${command:+--exec} $command \
-		${procname:+--name} $procname \
-		${pidfile:+--pidfile} $chroot$pidfile \
-		${stopsig:+--signal} $stopsig
-	eend $? "Failed to stop $RC_SVCNAME"
-}
-
-status()
-{
-	_status
-}
-
 yesno $RC_DEBUG && set -x
 
 _conf_d=${RC_SERVICE%/*}/../conf.d
@@ -212,6 +146,15 @@ unset _conf_d
 # Load any system overrides
 sourcex -e "@SYSCONFDIR@/rc.conf"
 
+# load a service supervisor
+sourcex "@LIBEXECDIR@/sh/start-stop-daemon.sh"
+if [ -n "$rc_supervisor" ]; then
+	if ! sourcex -e "@LIBEXECDIR@/sh/${rc_supervisor}.sh"; then
+		ewarn "$rc_supervisor is an invalid value for rc_supervisor"
+		ewarn "Using the default."
+	fi
+fi
+
 # Set verbose mode
 if yesno "${rc_verbose:-$RC_VERBOSE}"; then
 	EINFO_VERBOSE=yes
diff --git a/sh/start-stop-daemon.sh b/sh/start-stop-daemon.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..aae67920
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sh/start-stop-daemon.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+# Default start / stop / status functions
+# Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Roy Marples <roy@marples.name>
+# Released under the 2-clause BSD license.
+
+start()
+{
+	[ -n "$command" ] || return 0
+
+	local _background=
+	ebegin "Starting ${name:-$RC_SVCNAME}"
+	if yesno "${command_background}"; then
+		if [ -z "${pidfile}" ]; then
+			eend 1 "command_background option used but no pidfile specified"
+			return 1
+		fi
+		if [ -n "${command_args_background}" ]; then
+			eend 1 "command_background used with command_args_background"
+			return 1
+		fi
+		_background="--background --make-pidfile"
+	fi
+	if yesno "$start_inactive"; then
+		local _inactive=false
+		service_inactive && _inactive=true
+		mark_service_inactive
+	fi
+	eval start-stop-daemon --start \
+		--exec $command \
+		${procname:+--name} $procname \
+		${pidfile:+--pidfile} $pidfile \
+		${command_user+--user} $command_user \
+		$_background $start_stop_daemon_args \
+		-- $command_args $command_args_background
+	if eend $? "Failed to start $RC_SVCNAME"; then
+		service_set_value "command" "${command}"
+		[ -n "${pidfile}" ] && service_set_value "pidfile" "${pidfile}"
+		[ -n "${procname}" ] && service_set_value "procname" "${procname}"
+		return 0
+	fi
+	if yesno "$start_inactive"; then
+		if ! $_inactive; then
+			mark_service_stopped
+		fi
+	fi
+	return 1
+}
+
+stop()
+{
+	local startcommand="$(service_get_value "command")"
+	local startpidfile="$(service_get_value "pidfile")"
+	local startprocname="$(service_get_value "procname")"
+	command="${startcommand:-$command}"
+	pidfile="${startpidfile:-$pidfile}"
+	procname="${startprocname:-$procname}"
+	[ -n "$command" -o -n "$procname" -o -n "$pidfile" ] || return 0
+	ebegin "Stopping ${name:-$RC_SVCNAME}"
+	start-stop-daemon --stop \
+		${retry:+--retry} $retry \
+		${command:+--exec} $command \
+		${procname:+--name} $procname \
+		${pidfile:+--pidfile} $pidfile \
+		${stopsig:+--signal} $stopsig
+
+	eend $? "Failed to stop $RC_SVCNAME"
+}
+
+status()
+{
+	_status
+}