--- spamd/spamd.raw	(revision 1329511)
+++ spamd/spamd.raw	(working copy)
@@ -589,6 +589,7 @@
 my $timeout_child;        # processing timeout (headers->finish), 0=no timeout
 my $clients_per_child;    # number of clients each child should process
 my %children;             # current children
+my @children_exited;
 
 if ( defined $opt{'max-children'} ) {
   $childlimit = $opt{'max-children'};
@@ -1033,6 +1034,8 @@
 # child_handler()  if !$scaling || am_running_on_windows();
   child_handler();  # it doesn't hurt to call child_handler unconditionally
 
+  child_cleaner();
+
   do_sighup_restart()  if defined $got_sighup;
 
   for (my $i = keys %children; $i < $childlimit; $i++) {
@@ -2534,13 +2537,24 @@
     #
     my $pid = waitpid(-1, WNOHANG);
     last if !$pid || $pid == -1;
-    my $child_stat = $?;
+    push(@children_exited, [$pid, $?, $sig, time]);
+  }
 
-    if (!defined $children{$pid}) {
-      # ignore this child; we didn't realise we'd forked it. bug 4237
-      next;
-    }
+  $SIG{CHLD} = \&child_handler;    # reset as necessary, should be at end
+}
 
+# takes care of dead children, as noted by a child_handler()
+# called in a main program flow (not from a signal handler)
+#
+sub child_cleaner {
+  while (@children_exited) {
+    my $tuple = shift(@children_exited);
+    next if !$tuple;  # just in case
+    my($pid, $child_stat, $sig, $timestamp) = @$tuple;
+
+    # ignore this child if we didn't realise we'd forked it. bug 4237
+    next if !defined $children{$pid};
+
     # remove them from our child listing
     delete $children{$pid};
 
@@ -2550,15 +2564,10 @@
       my $sock = $backchannel->get_socket_for_child($pid);
       if ($sock) { $sock->close(); }
     }
-
-    unless ($Mail::SpamAssassin::Logger::LOG_SA{INHIBIT_LOGGING_IN_SIGCHLD_HANDLER}) {
-      info("spamd: handled cleanup of child pid [%s]%s: %s",
-           $pid, (defined $sig ? " due to SIG$sig" : ""),
-           exit_status_str($child_stat,0));
-    }
+    info("spamd: handled cleanup of child pid [%s]%s: %s",
+         $pid, (defined $sig ? " due to SIG$sig" : ""),
+         exit_status_str($child_stat,0));
   }
-
-  $SIG{CHLD} = \&child_handler;    # reset as necessary, should be at end
 }
 
 sub restart_handler {