diff --git a/src/mworker-prog.c b/src/mworker-prog.c
index 5ecd3df36..75f64c5a9 100644
--- a/src/mworker-prog.c
+++ b/src/mworker-prog.c
@@ -328,6 +328,11 @@ int cfg_program_postparser()
 	int err_code = 0;
 	struct mworker_proc *child;
 
+	/* we only need to check this during configuration parsing,
+	 * wait mode doesn't have the complete description of a program */
+	if (global.mode & MODE_MWORKER_WAIT)
+		return err_code;
+
 	list_for_each_entry(child, &proc_list, list) {
 		if (child->reloads == 0 && (child->options & PROC_O_TYPE_PROG)) {
 			if (child->command == NULL) {