diff --git a/ecs/bin/ejabberdctl b/ecs/bin/ejabberdctl
index 6515d70..33a1dda 100755
--- a/ecs/bin/ejabberdctl
+++ b/ecs/bin/ejabberdctl
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ export CONTRIB_MODULES_CONF_DIR
 export ERL_LIBS
 
 # run command either directly or via su $INSTALLUSER
-cmd()
+run_cmd()
 {
     case $EXEC_CMD in
         as_install_user) su -s /bin/sh -c '"$0" "$@"' "$INSTALLUSER" -- "$@" ;;
@@ -129,6 +129,11 @@ exec_cmd()
         as_current_user) exec "$@" ;;
     esac
 }
+run_erl()
+{
+    NODE=$1; shift
+    run_cmd "$ERL" ${S:--}name "$NODE" $ERLANG_OPTS "$@"
+}
 exec_erl()
 {
     NODE=$1; shift
@@ -261,7 +266,7 @@ wait_status()
         if [ $timeout -eq 0 ] ; then
             status="$1"
         else
-            exec_erl "$(uid ctl)" -hidden -noinput -s ejabberd_ctl \
+            run_erl "$(uid ctl)" -hidden -noinput -s ejabberd_ctl -boot start_clean \
                      -extra "$ERLANG_NODE" $NO_TIMEOUT status > /dev/null
             status="$?"
         fi
@@ -270,7 +275,7 @@ wait_status()
 }
 
 # ensure we can change current directory to SPOOL_DIR
-[ -d "$SPOOL_DIR" ] || cmd mkdir -p "$SPOOL_DIR"
+[ -d "$SPOOL_DIR" ] || run_cmd mkdir -p "$SPOOL_DIR"
 cd "$SPOOL_DIR" || {
     echo "ERROR: can not access directory $SPOOL_DIR"
     exit 6
@@ -324,7 +329,7 @@ case $1 in
         wait_status 3 30 2 && stop_epmd # wait 30x2s before timeout
         ;;
     *)
-        exec_erl "$(uid ctl)" -hidden -noinput -boot start_clean \
+        run_erl "$(uid ctl)" -hidden -noinput -boot start_clean \
                  -s ejabberd_ctl -extra "$ERLANG_NODE" $NO_TIMEOUT "$@"
         result=$?
         case $result in