diff --git a/src/aof.c b/src/aof.c
index 7e1512ebdbdef7115cdad48d0abca072fa7b9232..8dc1dd1881f1f221dd1a777c0eac65424b4d1885 100644
--- a/src/aof.c
+++ b/src/aof.c
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ void stopAppendOnly(void) {
 
         redisLog(REDIS_NOTICE,"Killing running AOF rewrite child: %ld",
             (long) server.aof_child_pid);
-        if (kill(server.aof_child_pid,SIGKILL) != -1)
+        if (kill(server.aof_child_pid,SIGUSR1) != -1)
             wait3(&statloc,0,NULL);
         /* reset the buffer accumulating changes while the child saves */
         aofRewriteBufferReset();
diff --git a/src/db.c b/src/db.c
index eda05c85f4e82aaffa4b7c1be8b4af09b1b7c5dd..d1b22af694e3925c064322ac6b614c02c6bb82ad 100644
--- a/src/db.c
+++ b/src/db.c
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ void flushallCommand(redisClient *c) {
     server.dirty += emptyDb();
     addReply(c,shared.ok);
     if (server.rdb_child_pid != -1) {
-        kill(server.rdb_child_pid,SIGKILL);
+        kill(server.rdb_child_pid,SIGUSR1);
         rdbRemoveTempFile(server.rdb_child_pid);
     }
     if (server.saveparamslen > 0) {
diff --git a/src/rdb.c b/src/rdb.c
index 97492f4ec478e4a46a51fc7392295a5819b11437..13abeccedae65f47898d49ae28a9344586e68642 100644
--- a/src/rdb.c
+++ b/src/rdb.c
@@ -1194,7 +1194,10 @@ void backgroundSaveDoneHandler(int exitcode, int bysignal) {
         redisLog(REDIS_WARNING,
             "Background saving terminated by signal %d", bysignal);
         rdbRemoveTempFile(server.rdb_child_pid);
-        server.lastbgsave_status = REDIS_ERR;
+        /* SIGUSR1 is whitelisted, so we have a way to kill a child without
+         * tirggering an error conditon. */
+        if (bysignal != SIGUSR1)
+            server.lastbgsave_status = REDIS_ERR;
     }
     server.rdb_child_pid = -1;
     server.rdb_save_time_last = time(NULL)-server.rdb_save_time_start;
diff --git a/src/redis.c b/src/redis.c
index a2e0a1b13efcfa7adda3015657ed1c4da5a76686..20186cae265914e9a954383039925a8f8c660947 100644
--- a/src/redis.c
+++ b/src/redis.c
@@ -1755,7 +1755,7 @@ int prepareForShutdown(int flags) {
        overwrite the synchronous saving did by SHUTDOWN. */
     if (server.rdb_child_pid != -1) {
         redisLog(REDIS_WARNING,"There is a child saving an .rdb. Killing it!");
-        kill(server.rdb_child_pid,SIGKILL);
+        kill(server.rdb_child_pid,SIGUSR1);
         rdbRemoveTempFile(server.rdb_child_pid);
     }
     if (server.aof_state != REDIS_AOF_OFF) {
@@ -1764,7 +1764,7 @@ int prepareForShutdown(int flags) {
         if (server.aof_child_pid != -1) {
             redisLog(REDIS_WARNING,
                 "There is a child rewriting the AOF. Killing it!");
-            kill(server.aof_child_pid,SIGKILL);
+            kill(server.aof_child_pid,SIGUSR1);
         }
         /* Append only file: fsync() the AOF and exit */
         redisLog(REDIS_NOTICE,"Calling fsync() on the AOF file.");