diff --git a/lib/support/init.d/gitlab b/lib/support/init.d/gitlab
index c6e570784e07f4aafa01254e6f7bd163ddfeda6c..ff584e690583cdc2a48b476329936072dd94b68c 100755
--- a/lib/support/init.d/gitlab
+++ b/lib/support/init.d/gitlab
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ test -f /etc/default/gitlab && . /etc/default/gitlab
 
 # Switch to the app_user if it is not he/she who is running the script.
 if [ "$USER" != "$app_user" ]; then
-  sudo -u "$app_user" -H -i $0 "$@"; exit;
+  eval su - "$app_user" -c $(echo \")$0 "$@"$(echo \"); exit;
 fi
 
 # Switch to the gitlab path, exit on failure.