diff --git a/sbin/shutdown/shutdown.c b/sbin/shutdown/shutdown.c
index 490b33563624..122ca9849d72 100644
--- a/sbin/shutdown/shutdown.c
+++ b/sbin/shutdown/shutdown.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: shutdown.c,v 1.35 1999/10/31 13:24:05 is Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: shutdown.c,v 1.36 2000/07/20 17:33:57 jdolecek Exp $	*/
 
 /*
  * Copyright (c) 1988, 1990, 1993
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ __COPYRIGHT("@(#) Copyright (c) 1988, 1990, 1993\n\
 #if 0
 static char sccsid[] = "@(#)shutdown.c	8.4 (Berkeley) 4/28/95";
 #else
-__RCSID("$NetBSD: shutdown.c,v 1.35 1999/10/31 13:24:05 is Exp $");
+__RCSID("$NetBSD: shutdown.c,v 1.36 2000/07/20 17:33:57 jdolecek Exp $");
 #endif
 #endif /* not lint */
 
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ __RCSID("$NetBSD: shutdown.c,v 1.35 1999/10/31 13:24:05 is Exp $");
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <sys/resource.h>
 #include <sys/syslog.h>
+#include <sys/wait.h>
 
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <err.h>
@@ -90,7 +91,11 @@ struct interval {
 #undef M
 #undef S
 
+/* time to wait for rc.shutdown to finish - 5 minutes by default */
+#define RCSHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT		(5 * 60)	
+
 static time_t offset, shuttime;
+static int rcshutdown_timeout = RCSHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT;
 static int dofast, dohalt, doreboot, killflg, mbuflen, nofork, nosync, dodump;
 static int dopowerdown;
 static const char *whom;
@@ -122,7 +127,7 @@ main(argc, argv)
 	if (geteuid())
 		errx(1, "NOT super-user");
 #endif
-	while ((ch = getopt(argc, argv, "Ddfhknpr")) != -1)
+	while ((ch = getopt(argc, argv, "?DdfhknprT:")) != -1)
 		switch (ch) {
 		case 'd':
 			dodump = 1;
@@ -148,6 +153,11 @@ main(argc, argv)
 		case 'r':
 			doreboot = 1;
 			break;
+		case 'T':
+			rcshutdown_timeout = (int) strtol(optarg, &endp, 10);
+			if (*endp != '\0' || rcshutdown_timeout <= 0)
+				errx(1, "invalid timeout value - must be positive number");
+			break;
 		case '?':
 		default:
 			usage();
@@ -482,10 +492,58 @@ getoffset(timearg)
 void
 dorcshutdown()
 {
+	pid_t rc_pid, outpid;
+	time_t end_time;
+	int status;
+
 	(void)printf("\r\nAbout to run shutdown hooks...\r\n");
-	(void)system(__CONCAT(". ", _PATH_RCSHUTDOWN));
-	(void)sleep(5);		/* Give operator a chance to abort this. */
+
+	rc_pid = fork();
+	switch (rc_pid) {
+	case -1:
+		/* error forking */
+		warn("dorcshutdown: fork");
+		break;
+	case 0:
+		/* child */
+		execl("/bin/sh", "sh", "-c", __CONCAT(". ", _PATH_RCSHUTDOWN),
+				NULL);
+		err(1, "exec of '/bin/sh -c \". %s\" failed",
+			_PATH_RCSHUTDOWN);
+		/* NOTREACHED */
+		break;
+	default:
+		/* parent */
+		end_time = time(NULL) + rcshutdown_timeout;
+		outpid = 0;
+		do {
+			outpid = waitpid(rc_pid, &status, WNOHANG);
+			if (outpid == rc_pid) {
+				/* child exited */
+				break;
+			} else if (outpid == 0) {
+				/* child not terminated yet */
+				sleep(2);
+			} else {
+				/* an error occurred */
+				warn("dorcshutdown: waitpid");
+				break;
+			}
+		} while(time(NULL) < end_time);
+
+		/* if rc.shutdown didn't exit within timeout, print warning */
+		if (outpid == 0) {
+			warnx("%s didn't exit within timeout %ds, killed",
+				 _PATH_RCSHUTDOWN, rcshutdown_timeout);
+		}
+
+		/* if child did not exit voluntarily, kill it now */
+		if (outpid != rc_pid)
+			(void) kill(rc_pid, SIGKILL);
+	}
+
 	(void)printf("\r\nDone running shutdown hooks.\r\n");
+	(void)sleep(5);		/* Give operator a chance to abort this. */
 }
 
 #define	FSMSG	"fastboot file for fsck\n"
@@ -547,6 +605,6 @@ usage()
 {
 
 	(void)fprintf(stderr,
-	    "usage: shutdown [-Ddfhknpr] time [message ... | -]\n");
+	    "usage: shutdown [-Ddfhknpr] [-T timeout] time [message ... | -]\n");
 	exit(1);
 }