diff --git a/libcontainer/generic_error.go b/libcontainer/generic_error.go
index 93bb7570..3ed33da6 100644
--- a/libcontainer/generic_error.go
+++ b/libcontainer/generic_error.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package libcontainer
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"text/template"
 	"time"
@@ -76,7 +75,7 @@ type genericError struct {
 }
 
 func (e *genericError) Error() string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("[%d] %s: %s", e.ECode, e.ECode, e.Message)
+	return e.Message
 }
 
 func (e *genericError) Code() ErrorCode {
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index f8982f6e..c4cb0b60 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func main() {
 			logrus.SetLevel(logrus.DebugLevel)
 		}
 		if path := context.GlobalString("log"); path != "" {
-			f, err := os.OpenFile(path, os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY|os.O_APPEND, 0666)
+			f, err := os.OpenFile(path, os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY|os.O_APPEND|os.O_SYNC, 0666)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
diff --git a/start.go b/start.go
index e8b4f5cb..7e268d02 100644
--- a/start.go
+++ b/start.go
@@ -85,7 +85,9 @@ var initCommand = cli.Command{
 		runtime.LockOSThread()
 		factory, _ := libcontainer.New("")
 		if err := factory.StartInitialization(); err != nil {
-			fatal(err)
+			// as the error is sent back to the parent there is no need to log
+			// or write it to stderr because the parent process will handle this
+			os.Exit(1)
 		}
 		panic("libcontainer: container init failed to exec")
 	},
diff --git a/utils.go b/utils.go
index a720e3d2..5956a6cc 100644
--- a/utils.go
+++ b/utils.go
@@ -150,33 +150,15 @@ func containerPreload(context *cli.Context) error {
 
 // loadFactory returns the configured factory instance for execing containers.
 func loadFactory(context *cli.Context) (libcontainer.Factory, error) {
-	var (
-		debug = "false"
-		root  = context.GlobalString("root")
-	)
-	if context.GlobalBool("debug") {
-		debug = "true"
-	}
+	root := context.GlobalString("root")
 	abs, err := filepath.Abs(root)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	var logAbs string
-	if l := context.GlobalString("log"); l != "" {
-		if logAbs, err = filepath.Abs(context.GlobalString("log")); err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-	}
 	return libcontainer.New(abs, libcontainer.Cgroupfs, func(l *libcontainer.LinuxFactory) error {
 		l.CriuPath = context.GlobalString("criu")
 		return nil
-	},
-		libcontainer.InitArgs(os.Args[0],
-			"--log", logAbs,
-			"--log-format", context.GlobalString("log-format"),
-			fmt.Sprintf("--debug=%s", debug),
-			"init"),
-	)
+	})
 }
 
 // getContainer returns the specified container instance by loading it from state