diff --git a/include/wlr/util/log.h b/include/wlr/util/log.h
index 7b0070bb..2c441180 100644
--- a/include/wlr/util/log.h
+++ b/include/wlr/util/log.h
@@ -35,8 +35,13 @@ typedef void (*wlr_log_func_t)(enum wlr_log_importance importance,
 
 // Will log all messages less than or equal to `verbosity`
 // If `callback` is NULL, wlr will use its default logger.
+// The function can be called multiple times to update the verbosity or
+// callback function.
 void wlr_log_init(enum wlr_log_importance verbosity, wlr_log_func_t callback);
 
+// Returns the log verbosity provided to wlr_log_init
+enum wlr_log_importance wlr_log_get_verbosity(void);
+
 #ifdef __GNUC__
 #define _WLR_ATTRIB_PRINTF(start, end) __attribute__((format(printf, start, end)))
 #else
diff --git a/rootston/config.c b/rootston/config.c
index 0c0ad055..92d90de1 100644
--- a/rootston/config.c
+++ b/rootston/config.c
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ static void usage(const char *name, int ret) {
 		"                See `rootston.ini.example` for config\n"
 		"                file documentation.\n"
 		" -E <COMMAND>   Command that will be ran at startup.\n"
-		" -D             Enable damage tracking debugging.\n",
+		" -D             Enable damage tracking debugging.\n"
+		" -l <LEVEL>     Set log verbosity, where,\n"
+		"                0:SILENT, 1:ERROR, 2:INFO, 3+:DEBUG\n"
+		"                (default: DEBUG)\n",
 		name);
 
 	exit(ret);
@@ -455,7 +458,8 @@ struct roots_config *roots_config_create_from_args(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	wl_list_init(&config->bindings);
 
 	int c;
-	while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, "C:E:hD")) != -1) {
+	unsigned int log_verbosity = WLR_DEBUG;
+	while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, "C:E:hDl:")) != -1) {
 		switch (c) {
 		case 'C':
 			config->config_path = strdup(optarg);
@@ -466,11 +470,18 @@ struct roots_config *roots_config_create_from_args(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 		case 'D':
 			config->debug_damage_tracking = true;
 			break;
+		case 'l':
+			log_verbosity = strtoul(optarg, NULL, 10);
+			if (log_verbosity >= WLR_LOG_IMPORTANCE_LAST) {
+				log_verbosity = WLR_LOG_IMPORTANCE_LAST - 1;
+			}
+			break;
 		case 'h':
 		case '?':
 			usage(argv[0], c != 'h');
 		}
 	}
+	wlr_log_init(log_verbosity, NULL);
 
 	if (!config->config_path) {
 		// get the config path from the current directory
diff --git a/util/log.c b/util/log.c
index 754ccfa9..3ef5f484 100644
--- a/util/log.c
+++ b/util/log.c
@@ -85,3 +85,7 @@ const char *_wlr_strip_path(const char *filepath) {
 	}
 	return filepath;
 }
+
+enum wlr_log_importance wlr_log_get_verbosity(void) {
+	return log_importance;
+}
diff --git a/xwayland/xwayland.c b/xwayland/xwayland.c
index 1068b942..4755608f 100644
--- a/xwayland/xwayland.c
+++ b/xwayland/xwayland.c
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ static int fill_arg(char ***argv, const char *fmt, ...) {
 	return len;
 }
 
+_Noreturn
 static void exec_xwayland(struct wlr_xwayland *wlr_xwayland) {
 	if (unset_cloexec(wlr_xwayland->x_fd[0]) ||
 			unset_cloexec(wlr_xwayland->x_fd[1]) ||
@@ -123,9 +124,26 @@ static void exec_xwayland(struct wlr_xwayland *wlr_xwayland) {
 		wlr_xwayland->wl_fd[1], wlr_xwayland->display, wlr_xwayland->x_fd[0],
 		wlr_xwayland->x_fd[1], wlr_xwayland->wm_fd[1]);
 
-	// TODO: close stdout/err depending on log level
+	// Closes stdout/stderr depending on log verbosity
+	enum wlr_log_importance verbosity = wlr_log_get_verbosity();
+	int devnull = open("/dev/null", O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, 0666);
+	if (devnull < 0) {
+		wlr_log_errno(WLR_ERROR, "XWayland: failed to open /dev/null");
+		_exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
+	if (verbosity < WLR_INFO) {
+		dup2(devnull, STDOUT_FILENO);
+	}
+	if (verbosity < WLR_ERROR) {
+		dup2(devnull, STDERR_FILENO);
+	}
 
+	// This returns if and only if the call fails
 	execvp("Xwayland", argv);
+
+	wlr_log_errno(WLR_ERROR, "failed to exec Xwayland");
+	close(devnull);
+	_exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
 
 static void xwayland_finish_server(struct wlr_xwayland *wlr_xwayland) {
@@ -346,8 +364,6 @@ static bool xwayland_start_server(struct wlr_xwayland *wlr_xwayland) {
 		sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, &sigset, NULL);
 		if ((pid = fork()) == 0) {
 			exec_xwayland(wlr_xwayland);
-			wlr_log_errno(WLR_ERROR, "failed to exec Xwayland");
-			_exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 		}
 		if (pid < 0) {
 			wlr_log_errno(WLR_ERROR, "second fork failed");