diff --git a/pyembedpg.py b/pyembedpg.py
index 2f5c6bb..96032af 100644
--- a/pyembedpg.py
+++ b/pyembedpg.py
@@ -43,11 +43,13 @@ class PyEmbedPg(object):
 
     CACHE_DIRECTORY = '.pyembedpg'
 
-    def __init__(self, version=None):
+    def __init__(self, version=None, stdout=None, stderr=None):
         """
         Initialize a new Postgres object
         :param version: version to use. If it is not set, use the latest version in .pyembedpg directory. If not present
                         use the latest version remotely. Use 'local' to use the local postgres version installed on the machine
+        :param stdout: stdout argument of subprocess module. Use subprocess.DEVNULL to supress stdout of the subprocess.
+        :param stderr: stderr argument of subprocess module. Use subprocess.DEVNULL to supress stderr of the subprocess.
         :return:
         """
         home_dir = expanduser("~")
@@ -68,6 +70,9 @@ def __init__(self, version=None):
         else:
             self._version_path = os.path.join(self._cache_dir, self.version)
 
+        self._stdout = stdout
+        self._stderr = stderr
+
     def get_latest_local_version(self):
         """
         Return the latest version installed in the cache
@@ -126,10 +131,11 @@ def download_and_unpack(self):
                 # Can't use with context directly because of python 2.6
                 with closing(tarfile.open(fd.name)) as tar:
                     tar.extractall(temp_dir)
-                os.system(
-                    'sh -c "cd {path} && ./configure --prefix={target_dir} && make install && cd contrib && make install"'.format(
-                        path=source_dir,
-                        target_dir=self._version_path)
+                subprocess.call(
+                    'sh -c "cd {path} && ./configure --prefix={target_dir} && make install && cd contrib && make install"'.format(path=source_dir, target_dir=self._version_path),
+                    shell=True,
+                    stdout=self._stdout,
+                    stderr=self._stderr
                 )
             finally:
                 shutil.rmtree(temp_dir, ignore_errors=True)
@@ -145,23 +151,25 @@ def start(self, port=5432):
 
         bin_dir = os.path.join(self._version_path, 'bin')
         ports = [port] if isinstance(port, int) else port
-        return DatabaseRunner(bin_dir, ports)
+        return DatabaseRunner(bin_dir, ports, self._stdout, self._stderr)
 
 
 class DatabaseRunner(object):
     ADMIN_USER = 'root'
     TIMEOUT = 10
 
-    def __init__(self, bin_dir, ports):
+    def __init__(self, bin_dir, ports, stdout, stderr):
         self._ports = ports
         self._postgres_cmd = os.path.join(bin_dir, 'postgres')
+        self._stdout = stdout
+        self._stderr = stderr
 
         # init db
         init_db = os.path.join(bin_dir, 'initdb')
         self._temp_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
-        command = init_db + ' -D ' + self._temp_dir + ' -U ' + DatabaseRunner.ADMIN_USER
-        logger.debug('Running command: {command}'.format(command=command))
-        os.system(command)
+        command = [init_db, '-D', self._temp_dir, '-U', DatabaseRunner.ADMIN_USER]
+        logger.debug('Running command: {command}'.format(command=' '.join(command)))
+        subprocess.call(command, stdout=self._stdout, stderr=self._stderr)
 
         # overwrite pg_hba.conf to only allow local access with password authentication
         with open(os.path.join(self._temp_dir, 'pg_hba.conf'), 'w') as fd:
@@ -185,7 +193,11 @@ def can_connect(port):
         if self.running_port is None:
             raise PyEmbedPgException('Cannot run postgres on any of these ports [{ports}]'.format(ports=', '.join((str(p) for p in ports))))
 
-        self.proc = Popen([self._postgres_cmd, '-D', self._temp_dir, '-p', str(self.running_port)])
+        self.proc = Popen(
+            [self._postgres_cmd, '-D', self._temp_dir, '-p', str(self.running_port)],
+            stdout=self._stdout,
+            stderr=self._stderr
+        )
         logger.debug('Postgres started on port {port}...'.format(port=self.running_port))
 
         # Loop until the server is started