diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index da3ba78..cc957f4 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 * Version (not released, yet)
  - m-kress:
  -- add missing brackets to harmonize code
+ -- check (stat) the program path given as command and ignore the command, if not existing
  - auouymous:
  -- fix behavior of (program_)?regex and (program_)?neg_regex conditions
  - LonEox78:
diff --git a/man/metalog.conf.5.in b/man/metalog.conf.5.in
index 5b1b43d..0b003bf 100644
--- a/man/metalog.conf.5.in
+++ b/man/metalog.conf.5.in
@@ -146,6 +146,9 @@ Set to \fI0\fR to filter out repeat log messages.
 Run the specified program as soon as something is logged in a given section.
 
 The program is passed the date, the matching program name, and the log message.
+
+In case the program doesn't exist at metalog startup, metalog will not exit and
+just ignore that config line.
 .TP
 \fBstamp_fmt\fR = \fI"%b %e %T"\fR
 Format of the human readable timestamp prepended to all log messages.
diff --git a/src/metalog.c b/src/metalog.c
index 34e55c7..7f19165 100644
--- a/src/metalog.c
+++ b/src/metalog.c
@@ -267,6 +267,25 @@ static int parseLine(char * const line, ConfigBlock **cur_block,
             (void) 0;
         }
         else if (strcasecmp(keyword, "command") == 0) {
+            char *command = NULL;
+            struct stat st;
+            char *p = NULL;
+
+            if ((command = wstrdup(value)) == NULL) {
+                return -3;
+            }
+
+            p = strchr(command, (int) ' ');
+            if (p != NULL) {
+                *p = '\0';
+            }
+            if (stat(command, &st) < 0) {
+                warnp("Ignoring command \"%s\"", command);
+                free(command);
+                return 0;
+            }
+            free(command);
+
             if (((*cur_block)->command = wstrdup(value)) == NULL) {
                 return -3;
             }