diff --git a/kallithea/config/middleware.py b/kallithea/config/middleware.py
--- a/kallithea/config/middleware.py
+++ b/kallithea/config/middleware.py
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ __all__ = ['make_app']
 # make_base_app will wrap the TurboGears2 app with all the middleware it needs.
 make_base_app = base_config.setup_tg_wsgi_app(load_environment)
 
+def make_app_without_logging(global_conf, full_stack=True, **app_conf):
+    """The core of make_app for use from gearbox commands (other than 'serve')"""
+    return make_base_app(global_conf, full_stack=full_stack, **app_conf)
 
 def make_app(global_conf, full_stack=True, **app_conf):
     """
@@ -43,5 +46,4 @@ def make_app(global_conf, full_stack=Tru
     under ``[app:main]``.
     """
     logging.config.fileConfig(global_conf['__file__'])
-    app = make_base_app(global_conf, full_stack=full_stack, **app_conf)
-    return app
+    return make_app_without_logging(global_conf, full_stack=full_stack, **app_conf)
diff --git a/kallithea/lib/paster_commands/common.py b/kallithea/lib/paster_commands/common.py
--- a/kallithea/lib/paster_commands/common.py
+++ b/kallithea/lib/paster_commands/common.py
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class BasePasterCommand(gearbox.command.
             path_to_ini_file = os.path.realpath(args.config_file)
             conf = paste.deploy.appconfig('config:' + path_to_ini_file)
             logging.config.fileConfig(path_to_ini_file)
-            kallithea.config.middleware.make_app(conf.global_conf, **conf.local_conf)
+            kallithea.config.middleware.make_app_without_logging(conf.global_conf, **conf.local_conf)
 
             if self.requires_db_session:
                 kallithea.lib.utils.setup_cache_regions(config)