diff --git a/src/slurmctld/controller.c b/src/slurmctld/controller.c
index 502447c8e61cec88e452757e1faf3a77b1b6b1d3..f11f795c511cdf01739a89efe3b49498e772af0c 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/controller.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/controller.c
@@ -843,11 +843,8 @@ void update_logging(void)
 {
 	/* Preserve execute line arguments (if any) */
 	if (debug_level) {
-		if ((LOG_LEVEL_INFO + debug_level) > LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG3)
-			slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_debug = LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG3;
-		else
-			slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_debug = LOG_LEVEL_INFO + 
-							 debug_level;
+		slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_debug = MIN(
+			(LOG_LEVEL_INFO + debug_level), LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG3);
 	} 
 	if (slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_debug != (uint16_t) NO_VAL) {
 		log_opts.stderr_level  = slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_debug;