diff --git a/railties/CHANGELOG b/railties/CHANGELOG
index e3eea53352a7e56676463a353dcc045ece25f0ce..a9cee6563899beb304d418a40d0ffed1c701837f 100644
--- a/railties/CHANGELOG
+++ b/railties/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Run initialize_logger in script/lighttpd to ensure the log file exists before tailing it. [Sam Stephenson]
+
 * Make load_fixtures include csv fixtures. #3053. [me@mdaines.com]
 
 * Fix freeze_gems so that the latest rails version is dumped by default. [Nicholas Seckar]
diff --git a/railties/lib/commands/servers/lighttpd.rb b/railties/lib/commands/servers/lighttpd.rb
index 16baf1e367591dcf9b612ee1f8a638a1feed826e..8f67721a04c27e03236d79bcf1f7eeb0792a0983 100644
--- a/railties/lib/commands/servers/lighttpd.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/commands/servers/lighttpd.rb
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
   exit 1
 end
 
+require 'initializer'
+configuration = Rails::Initializer.run(:initialize_logger).configuration
 
 config_file = "#{RAILS_ROOT}/config/lighttpd.conf"
 
@@ -21,8 +23,8 @@
 
 config = IO.read(config_file)
 default_port, default_ip = 3000, '0.0.0.0'
-port = config.scan(/^server.port\s*=\s*(\d+)/).first rescue default_port
-ip   = config.scan(/^server.bind\s*=\s*"([^"]+)"/).first rescue default_ip
+port = config.scan(/^\s*server.port\s*=\s*(\d+)/).first rescue default_port
+ip   = config.scan(/^\s*server.bind\s*=\s*"([^"]+)"/).first rescue default_ip
 puts "=> Rails application started on http://#{ip || default_ip}:#{port || default_port}"
 
 tail_thread = nil
@@ -35,11 +37,10 @@
   puts "=> Ctrl-C to shutdown server (see config/lighttpd.conf for options)"
   detach = false
 
-  log_path = "#{RAILS_ROOT}/log/#{RAILS_ENV}.log"
-  cursor = File.size(log_path)
+  cursor = File.size(configuration.log_path)
   last_checked = Time.now
   tail_thread = Thread.new do
-    File.open(log_path, 'r') do |f|
+    File.open(configuration.log_path, 'r') do |f|
       loop do
         f.seek cursor
         if f.mtime > last_checked
diff --git a/railties/lib/initializer.rb b/railties/lib/initializer.rb
index 6287f0ddc1d50de8548c98c34a4efcad4e230365..d1fe8908bc7611b587c8a41715a0807c3928f626 100644
--- a/railties/lib/initializer.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/initializer.rb
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ class Initializer
     # incuring the overhead of completely loading the entire environment. 
     def self.run(command = :process, configuration = Configuration.new)
       yield configuration if block_given?
-      new(configuration).send(command)
+      initializer = new configuration
+      initializer.send(command)
+      initializer
     end
     
     # Create a new Initializer instance that references the given Configuration