diff --git a/tools/gst-launch.c b/tools/gst-launch.c
index 47c0ab80e1..05543f7e13 100644
--- a/tools/gst-launch.c
+++ b/tools/gst-launch.c
@@ -458,6 +458,10 @@ print_toc_entry (gpointer data, gpointer user_data)
   g_list_foreach (subentries, print_toc_entry, GUINT_TO_POINTER (indent));
 }
 
+#ifdef G_OS_UNIX
+static guint signal_watch_id;
+#endif
+
 #ifdef G_OS_UNIX
 /* As the interrupt handler is dispatched from GMainContext as a GSourceFunc
  * handler, we can react to this by posting a message. */
@@ -475,6 +479,7 @@ intr_handler (gpointer user_data)
               "message", G_TYPE_STRING, "Pipeline interrupted", NULL)));
 
   /* remove signal handler */
+  signal_watch_id = 0;
   return FALSE;
 }
 
@@ -487,9 +492,6 @@ static EventLoopResult
 event_loop (GstElement * pipeline, gboolean blocking, gboolean do_progress,
     GstState target_state)
 {
-#ifdef G_OS_UNIX
-  guint signal_watch_id;
-#endif
   GstBus *bus;
   GstMessage *message = NULL;
   EventLoopResult res = ELR_NO_ERROR;
@@ -824,7 +826,8 @@ exit:
       gst_message_unref (message);
     gst_object_unref (bus);
 #ifdef G_OS_UNIX
-    g_source_remove (signal_watch_id);
+    if (signal_watch_id > 0)
+      g_source_remove (signal_watch_id);
 #endif
     return res;
   }