diff --git a/initd/supervisor.c b/initd/supervisor.c
index 4f7ddc9..871618a 100644
--- a/initd/supervisor.c
+++ b/initd/supervisor.c
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 static service_list_t cfg;
 
+static int service_id = 1;
 static int target = -1;
 static service_t *running = NULL;
 static service_t *terminated = NULL;
@@ -14,6 +15,9 @@ static bool waiting = false;
 
 static int start_service(service_t *svc)
 {
+	if (svc->id < 1)
+		svc->id = service_id++;
+
 	svc->pid = runsvc(svc);
 	if (svc->pid == -1) {
 		print_status(svc->desc, STATUS_FAIL, false);
diff --git a/lib/include/service.h b/lib/include/service.h
index 85b82c5..1ff5204 100644
--- a/lib/include/service.h
+++ b/lib/include/service.h
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ typedef struct service_t {
 
 	pid_t pid;
 	int status;		/* process exit status */
+	int id;			/* service ID used by initd */
 
 	char name[];		/* canonical service name */
 } service_t;
diff --git a/lib/init/rdsvc.c b/lib/init/rdsvc.c
index 7ce68e3..0e5bc99 100644
--- a/lib/init/rdsvc.c
+++ b/lib/init/rdsvc.c
@@ -261,6 +261,7 @@ service_t *rdsvc(int dirfd, const char *filename, int flags)
 	}
 
 	memcpy(svc->name, filename, nlen);
+	svc->id = -1;
 
 	if (rdcfg(svc, &rd, svc_params, ARRAY_SIZE(svc_params), flags))
 		goto fail;