diff --git a/core/commands2/log.go b/core/commands2/log.go
index a3d941346..157bdca27 100644
--- a/core/commands2/log.go
+++ b/core/commands2/log.go
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ import (
 	u "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/util"
 )
 
+// Golang os.Args overrides * and replaces the character argument with
+// an array which includes every file in the user's CWD. As a
+// workaround, we use 'all' instead. The util library still uses * so
+// we convert it at this step.
+var logAllKeyword = "all"
+
 var logCmd = &cmds.Command{
 	Helptext: cmds.HelpText{
 		Tagline: "Change the logging level",
@@ -17,16 +23,29 @@ output of a running daemon.
 	},
 
 	Arguments: []cmds.Argument{
-		cmds.StringArg("subsystem", true, false, "the subsystem logging identifier. Use * for all subsystems."),
+		// TODO use a different keyword for 'all' because all can theoretically
+		// clash with a subsystem name
+		cmds.StringArg("subsystem", true, false, fmt.Sprintf("the subsystem logging identifier. Use '%s' for all subsystems.", logAllKeyword)),
 		cmds.StringArg("level", true, false, "one of: debug, info, notice, warning, error, critical"),
 	},
 	Run: func(req cmds.Request) (interface{}, error) {
+
 		args := req.Arguments()
-		if err := u.SetLogLevel(args[0].(string), args[1].(string)); err != nil {
+		subsystem, ok1 := args[0].(string)
+		level, ok2 := args[1].(string)
+		if !ok1 || !ok2 {
+			return nil, u.ErrCast()
+		}
+
+		if subsystem == logAllKeyword {
+			subsystem = "*"
+		}
+
+		if err := u.SetLogLevel(subsystem, level); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
-		s := fmt.Sprintf("Changed log level of '%s' to '%s'", args[0], args[1])
+		s := fmt.Sprintf("Changed log level of '%s' to '%s'", subsystem, level)
 		log.Info(s)
 		return &MessageOutput{s}, nil
 	},