--- a/src/master/main.c	Sun Sep 13 22:12:35 2009 -0400
+++ a/src/master/main.c	Mon Sep 21 18:36:25 2009 +0300
@@ -614,8 +614,6 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			sizeof(ssl_manual_key_password));
 	} T_END;
 
-	open_std_fds();
-
 	/* save TZ environment. AIX depends on it to get the timezone
 	   correctly. */
 	env_tz = getenv("TZ");
@@ -636,6 +634,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		mail_process_exec(exec_protocol, exec_args);
 	}
 
+	/* closes stdin/stdout, must be after --exec-mail handling */
+	open_std_fds();
+
 	/* log all errors to both stderr and log file until we've finished
 	   startup. */
 	set_tee_logfile(settings_root->defaults);