diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 126f04cab..72f3d7118 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -2306,6 +2306,9 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
 #ifdef HAVE_SLANG
     slang_init ();
 #endif
+
+    start_interrupt_key ();
+
     /* NOTE: This call has to be after slang_init. It's the small part from
        the previous init_key which had to be moved after the call of slang_init */
     init_key_input_fd ();
diff --git a/src/tty.c b/src/tty.c
index ee50840a9..17edb8808 100644
--- a/src/tty.c
+++ b/src/tty.c
@@ -69,16 +69,27 @@ sigintr_handler(int signo)
 
 /*** public functions **************************************************/
 
+extern void
+tty_start_interrupt_key(void)
+{
+    struct sigaction act;
+
+    act.sa_handler = sigintr_handler;
+    sigemptyset (&act.sa_mask);
+    act.sa_flags = SA_RESTART;
+    sigaction (SIGINT, &act, NULL);
+}
+
 extern void
 tty_enable_interrupt_key(void)
 {
     struct sigaction act;
 
-    got_interrupt = 0;
     act.sa_handler = sigintr_handler;
     sigemptyset (&act.sa_mask);
     act.sa_flags = 0;
     sigaction (SIGINT, &act, NULL);
+    got_interrupt = 0;
 }
 
 extern void
diff --git a/src/tty.h b/src/tty.h
index b9b198d07..23ad980f5 100644
--- a/src/tty.h
+++ b/src/tty.h
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 
 /* {{{ Input }}} */
 
+extern void tty_start_interrupt_key(void);
 extern void tty_enable_interrupt_key(void);
 extern void tty_disable_interrupt_key(void);
 extern gboolean tty_got_interrupt(void);
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ extern char *tty_tgetstr (const char *name);
 
 /* legacy interface */
 
+#define start_interrupt_key()	tty_start_interrupt_key()
 #define enable_interrupt_key()	tty_enable_interrupt_key()
 #define disable_interrupt_key()	tty_disable_interrupt_key()
 #define got_interrupt()		tty_got_interrupt()