diff --git a/awesomeConfig.cmake b/awesomeConfig.cmake
index c10109b1..7bdd54f8 100644
--- a/awesomeConfig.cmake
+++ b/awesomeConfig.cmake
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ pkg_check_modules(AWESOME_COMMON_REQUIRED REQUIRED
     xcb>=1.1)
 
 pkg_check_modules(AWESOME_REQUIRED REQUIRED
+    glib-2.0
     cairo
     x11
     pango>=1.19.3
diff --git a/awesomerc.lua.in b/awesomerc.lua.in
index 483d6713..d3d904c2 100644
--- a/awesomerc.lua.in
+++ b/awesomerc.lua.in
@@ -242,7 +242,8 @@ globalkeys = awful.util.table.join(
               function ()
                   awful.prompt.run({ prompt = "Run: " },
                   mypromptbox[mouse.screen],
-                  awful.util.spawn, awful.completion.shell,
+                  function (...) mypromptbox[mouse.screen].text = awful.util.spawn(unpack(arg)) end,
+                  awful.completion.shell,
                   awful.util.getdir("cache") .. "/history")
               end),
 
diff --git a/spawn.c b/spawn.c
index bb35b3a8..34a107d1 100644
--- a/spawn.c
+++ b/spawn.c
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 
+#include <glib/gspawn.h>
+
 #include "spawn.h"
 #include "screen.h"
 #include "luaa.h"
@@ -228,6 +230,7 @@ spawn_launchee_timeout(struct ev_loop *loop, ev_timer *w, int revents)
  * \lparam The command to launch.
  * \lparam Use startup-notification, true or false, default to true.
  * \lparam The optional screen number to spawn the command on.
+ * \lreturn Nothing if launch was successful, an error string otherwise.
  */
 int
 luaA_spawn(lua_State *L)
@@ -256,6 +259,7 @@ luaA_spawn(lua_State *L)
         p_delete(&host);
     }
 
+    SnLauncherContext *context = NULL;
     if(use_sn)
     {
         char *cmdname, *space;
@@ -264,7 +268,7 @@ luaA_spawn(lua_State *L)
         else
             cmdname = a_strdup(cmd);
 
-        SnLauncherContext *context = sn_launcher_context_new(globalconf.sndisplay, screen_virttophys(screen));
+        context = sn_launcher_context_new(globalconf.sndisplay, screen_virttophys(screen));
         sn_launcher_context_set_name(context, "awesome");
         sn_launcher_context_set_description(context, "awesome spawn");
         sn_launcher_context_set_binary_name(context, cmdname);
@@ -280,21 +284,16 @@ luaA_spawn(lua_State *L)
         sn_launcher_context_setup_child_process(context);
     }
 
-    /* The double-fork construct avoids zombie processes and keeps the code
-     * clean from stupid signal handlers. */
-    if(fork() == 0)
+    GError *error = NULL;
+    if(!g_spawn_command_line_async(cmd, &error))
     {
-        if(fork() == 0)
-        {
-            if(globalconf.connection)
-                xcb_disconnect(globalconf.connection);
-            setsid();
-            a_exec(cmd);
-            warn("execl '%s' failed: %s\n", cmd, strerror(errno));
-        }
-        exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
+        /* push error on stack */
+        lua_pushstring(L, error->message);
+        g_error_free(error);
+        if(context)
+            sn_launcher_context_complete(context);
+        return 1;
     }
-    wait(0);
 
     return 0;
 }