diff --git a/mdmon.8 b/mdmon.8
index 9be0327..2720b45 100644
--- a/mdmon.8
+++ b/mdmon.8
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ mdmon \- monitor MD external metadata arrays
 
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 
-.BI mdmon " CONTAINER [NEWROOT | PID]"
+.BI mdmon " [--all] [--takeover] CONTAINER"
 
 .SH OVERVIEW
 The 2.6.27 kernel brings the ability to support external metadata arrays.
@@ -128,66 +128,35 @@ device>/<member index>" if the array is to remain readonly.
 CONTAINER
 The
 .B container
-device to monitor.  It can be a full path like /dev/md/container, a simple md
-device name like md127, or
-.I \-\-all
- which tells
-.I mdmon
-to scan for containers and launch an
-.I mdmon
-instance for each one found.
+device to monitor.  It can be a full path like /dev/md/container, or a
+simple md device name like md127.
 .TP
-[NEWROOT]
-In order to support an external metadata raid array as the rootfs
+.B \-\-takeover
+This instructs
 .I mdmon
-needs to be started in the initramfs environment.  Once the initramfs
-environment mounts the final rootfs
+to replace any active
 .I mdmon
-needs to be restarted in the new namespace.  When NEWROOT is specified
+which is currently monitoring the array.  This is primarily used late
+in the boot process to replace any
 .I mdmon
-will terminate any
+which was started from an
+.B initramfs
+before the root filesystem was mounted.  This avoids holding a
+reference on that
+.B initramfs
+indefinitely and ensures that the
+.I pid
+and
+.I sock
+files used to communicate with
 .I mdmon
-instances that are running in the current namespace,
-.IR chroot (2)
-to NEWROOT, and continue monitoring the container.
-
-Alternately the new
-.I mdmon
-can be started after the new root has been installed with
-.I pivotroot
-by passing
-.B /
-as the NEWROOT.  For
-.I mdmon
-to be able to find and kill the old
-.I mdmon
-there must be some part of the filesystem that persists from before
-the
-.I pivotroot
-to afterwards.  This can be
-.B /var/run/mdadm
-or some other directory.  The default other directory is
-.B /lib/init/rw/mdadm
-but this can easily be changed when
-.I mdmon
-is compiled.
-If
-.I mdmon
-cannot store the pid file in
-.B /var/run/mdadm
-it will store it in the other directory until
-.B /var/run/mdadm
-becomes available, or until it is killed.
+are in a standard place.
 .TP
-[PID]
-If the second argument to
-.I mdmon
-does not start with a slash it is assumed to be the pid of a previous
-instance of
-.I mdmon
-to kill.  This is used internally by
-.I mdmon
-to pass the pid across a chroot/exec and should not be used otherwise.
+.B \-\-all
+This tells mdmon to find any active containers and start monitoring
+each of them if appropriate.  This is normally used with
+.B \-\-takeover
+late in the boot sequence.
 
 .PP
 Note that
@@ -200,17 +169,16 @@ RAID arrays.  The only times it is run other that by
 is when the boot scripts need to restart it after mounting the new
 root filesystem.
 
-.SH EXMAPLES
+.SH EXAMPLES
 
-.B "  mdmon --all /"
+.B "  mdmon \-\-all \-\-takeover"
 .br
 Any
 .I mdmon
 which is currently running is killed and a new instance is started.
-This should be run early in the boot sequence after a
-.I pivotroot
-to the final root filesystem, but before that filesystem is remounted
-read-write.
+This should be run late in the boot sequence and particularly after
+.B /var
+is mounted and writable.
 .SH SEE ALSO
 .IR mdadm (8),
 .IR md (4).
diff --git a/mdmon.c b/mdmon.c
index 3747460..c590fb2 100644
--- a/mdmon.c
+++ b/mdmon.c
@@ -254,28 +254,31 @@ void usage(void)
 	exit(2);
 }
 
-static int mdmon(char *devname, int devnum, int must_fork, char *switchroot);
+static int mdmon(char *devname, int devnum, int must_fork, int takeover);
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
 	char *container_name = NULL;
-	char *switchroot = NULL;
 	int devnum;
 	char *devname;
 	int status = 0;
+	int arg;
+	int all = 0;
+	int takeover = 0;
 
-	switch (argc) {
-	case 3:
-		switchroot = argv[2];
-	case 2:
-		container_name = argv[1];
-		break;
-	default:
-		usage();
+	for (arg = 1; arg < argc; arg++) {
+		if (strcmp(argv[arg], "--all") == 0 ||
+		    strcmp(argv[arg], "/proc/mdstat") == 0)
+			all = 1;
+		else if (strcmp(argv[arg], "--takeover") == 0)
+			takeover = 1;
+		else if (container_name == NULL)
+			container_name = argv[arg];
+		else
+			usage();
 	}
 
-	if (strcmp(container_name, "/proc/mdstat") == 0 ||
-	    strcmp(container_name, "--all") == 0) {
+	if (all) {
 		struct mdstat_ent *mdstat, *e;
 
 		/* launch an mdmon instance for each container found */
@@ -292,7 +295,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 					sprintf(container_name, "%s", devname);
 				}
 				status |= mdmon(devname, e->devnum, 1,
-						switchroot);
+						takeover);
 			}
 		}
 		free_mdstat(mdstat);
@@ -320,10 +323,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			container_name);
 		exit(1);
 	}
-	return mdmon(devname, devnum, do_fork(), switchroot);
+	return mdmon(devname, devnum, do_fork(), takeover);
 }
 
-static int mdmon(char *devname, int devnum, int must_fork, char *switchroot)
+static int mdmon(char *devname, int devnum, int must_fork, int takeover)
 {
 	int mdfd;
 	struct mdinfo *mdi, *di;
@@ -336,50 +339,7 @@ static int mdmon(char *devname, int devnum, int must_fork, char *switchroot)
 	pid_t victim = -1;
 	int victim_sock = -1;
 
-	dprintf("starting mdmon for %s in %s\n",
-		devname, switchroot ? : "/");
-
-	/* switchroot is either a path name starting with '/', or a
-	 * pid of the original mdmon (we have already done the chroot).
-	 * In the latter case, stdin is a socket connected to the original
-	 * mdmon.
-	 */
-
-	/* try to spawn mdmon instances from the target file system */
-	if (switchroot && switchroot[0] == '/' &&
-	    strcmp(switchroot, "/") != 0) {
-		pid_t pid;
-		char buf[20];
-
-		switch (fork()) {
-		case 0:
-			victim = mdmon_pid(devnum);
-			victim_sock = connect_monitor(devname);
-			if (chroot(switchroot) != 0) {
-				fprintf(stderr, "mdmon: failed to chroot to '%s': %s\n",
-					switchroot, strerror(errno));
-				exit(4);
-			}
-			ignore = chdir("/");
-			sprintf(buf, "%d", victim);
-			if (victim_sock) {
-				close(0);
-				dup(victim_sock);
-				close(victim_sock);
-			}
-			execl("/sbin/mdmon", "mdmon", devname, buf, NULL);
-			exit(1);
-		case -1:
-			return 1;
-		default:
-			pid = wait(&status);
-			if (pid > -1 && WIFEXITED(status) &&
-			    WEXITSTATUS(status) == 0)
-				return 0;
-			else
-				return 1;
-		}
-	}
+	dprintf("starting mdmon for %s\n", devname);
 
 	mdfd = open_dev(devnum);
 	if (mdfd < 0) {
@@ -486,17 +446,9 @@ static int mdmon(char *devname, int devnum, int must_fork, char *switchroot)
 	act.sa_handler = SIG_IGN;
 	sigaction(SIGPIPE, &act, NULL);
 
-	if (switchroot) {
-		/* we assume we assume that /sys /proc /dev are available in
-		 * the new root
-		 */
-		if (switchroot[0] == '/') {
-			victim = mdmon_pid(container->devnum);
-			victim_sock = connect_monitor(container->devname);
-		} else {
-			victim = atoi(switchroot);
-			victim_sock = 0;
-		}
+	if (takeover) {
+		victim = mdmon_pid(container->devnum);
+		victim_sock = connect_monitor(container->devname);
 	}
 
 	ignore = chdir("/");