diff --git a/sh/start-stop-daemon.sh b/sh/start-stop-daemon.sh
index 0449e5b6..0793b19a 100644
--- a/sh/start-stop-daemon.sh
+++ b/sh/start-stop-daemon.sh
@@ -38,7 +38,10 @@ ssd_start()
 		service_inactive && _inactive=true
 		mark_service_inactive
 	fi
-	start-stop-daemon --start \
+	#the eval call is necessary for cases like:
+	# command_args="this \"is a\" test"
+	# to work properly.
+	eval start-stop-daemon --start \
 		--exec $command \
 		${chroot:+--chroot} $chroot \
 		${procname:+--name} $procname \
diff --git a/sh/supervise-daemon.sh b/sh/supervise-daemon.sh
index 389635f6..bff68a4c 100644
--- a/sh/supervise-daemon.sh
+++ b/sh/supervise-daemon.sh
@@ -19,7 +19,10 @@ supervise_start()
 	fi
 
 	ebegin "Starting ${name:-$RC_SVCNAME}"
-	supervise-daemon --start \
+	# The eval call is necessary for cases like:
+	# command_args="this \"is a\" test"
+	# to work properly.
+	eval supervise-daemon --start \
 		${chroot:+--chroot} $chroot \
 		${pidfile:+--pidfile} $pidfile \
 		${command_user+--user} $command_user \