--- src/rc/start-stop-daemon.c
+++ src/rc/start-stop-daemon.c
@@ -658,6 +658,8 @@
 	mode_t numask;
 	char **margv;
 	unsigned int start_wait = 0;
+	bool retry = false;
+	char *retry_opt = NULL;
 
 	TAILQ_INIT(&schedule);
 #ifdef DEBUG_MEMORY
@@ -694,7 +696,13 @@
 			break;
 
 		case 'R':  /* --retry <schedule>|<timeout> */
-			parse_schedule(optarg, sig);
+			retry = true;
+			if(retry_opt)
+				free(retry_opt);
+			if(optarg)
+				retry_opt = xstrdup(optarg);
+			else
+				retry_opt = NULL;
 			break;
 
 		case 'S':  /* --start */
@@ -837,6 +845,15 @@
 	    sig != SIGKILL)
 		oknodo = true;
 
+	if (stop && !sig)
+		sig = SIGTERM;
+
+	if (retry) {
+		parse_schedule(retry_opt, sig);
+		if (retry_opt)
+			free(retry_opt);
+	}
+
 	if (!exec)
 		exec = startas;
 	else if (!name)
@@ -853,7 +870,7 @@
 	else if (exec)
 		*--argv = exec;
 
-	if (stop || sig) {
+	if (sig) {
 		if (!*argv && !pidfile && !name && !uid)
 			eerrorx("%s: --stop needs --exec, --pidfile,"
 				" --name or --user", applet);
@@ -954,9 +971,7 @@
 	}
 	margv = nav ? nav : argv;
 
-	if (stop || sig) {
-		if (!sig)
-			sig = SIGTERM;
+	if (sig) {
 		if (!stop)
 			oknodo = true;
 		if (!TAILQ_FIRST(&schedule)) {