diff --git a/bin/shell/osh.pl b/bin/shell/osh.pl
index 216e588..11a7fdb 100755
--- a/bin/shell/osh.pl
+++ b/bin/shell/osh.pl
@@ -230,10 +230,9 @@ my $result = GetOptions(
     "c=s"   => \$realOptions,    # user command under -c '...'
     "debug" => \$opt_debug,
 );
-
-if (not $result or not $realOptions) {
+if (not $result) {
     help();
-    main_exit OVH::Bastion::EXIT_UNKNOWN_COMMAND, "unknown_command", "Bad or empty command";
+    main_exit OVH::Bastion::EXIT_UNKNOWN_COMMAND, "unknown_command", "Bad command";
 }
 
 $osh_debug = 1 if $opt_debug;    # osh_debug was already 1 if specified in config file
@@ -258,7 +257,7 @@ my @toExecute;
 
 # special case: mosh, in that case we have something like this in $realOptions
 # mosh-server 'new' '-s' '-c' '256' '-l' 'LANG=en_US.UTF-8' '-l' 'LANGUAGE=en_US' '--' '--osh' 'info'
-if ($realOptions =~ /^mosh-server (.+?) '--' (.*)/) {
+if (defined $realOptions && $realOptions =~ /^mosh-server (.+?) '--' (.*)/) {
     osh_debug("MOSH DETECTED (with params)");
 
     # remove mosh stuff and save it for later
@@ -294,7 +293,7 @@ if ($realOptions =~ /^mosh-server (.+?) '--' (.*)/) {
         main_exit OVH::Bastion::EXIT_MOSH_DISABLED, "mosh_disabled", "Mosh support has been disabled on this bastion";
     }
 }
-elsif ($realOptions =~ /^mosh-server /) {
+elsif (defined $realOptions && $realOptions =~ /^mosh-server /) {
     osh_debug("MOSH DETECTED (without any param)");
 
     # we won't really use mosh, as we'll exit later with the bastion help anyway
@@ -307,7 +306,7 @@ elsif ($realOptions =~ /^mosh-server /) {
 my $beforeOptions;
 my $afterOptions;
 
-if ($realOptions =~ /^(.*?) -- (.*)$/) {
+if (defined $realOptions && $realOptions =~ /^(.*?) -- (.*)$/) {
     $beforeOptions = $1;
     $afterOptions  = $2;
     osh_debug("before <$beforeOptions> after <$afterOptions>");
@@ -362,6 +361,17 @@ my $remainingOptions;
     "use-key=s"       => \my $useKey,
     "kbd-interactive" => \my $userKbdInteractive,
 );
+if (not defined $realOptions) {
+    help();
+    if (OVH::Bastion::config('interactiveModeByDefault')->value) {
+        # nothing specified by the user, let's drop them to the interactive mode
+        osh_warn("No command specified, entering interactive mode by default");
+        $interactive = 1;
+    }
+    else {
+        main_exit OVH::Bastion::EXIT_UNKNOWN_COMMAND, "unknown_command", "Missing command";
+    }
+}
 
 if (!$quiet && $realm && !$ENV{'OSH_NO_INTERACTIVE'}) {
     my $welcome =
diff --git a/etc/bastion/bastion.conf.dist b/etc/bastion/bastion.conf.dist
index 5cee36a..6096675 100644
--- a/etc/bastion/bastion.conf.dist
+++ b/etc/bastion/bastion.conf.dist
@@ -257,6 +257,11 @@
 #  DEFAULT: 60
 "interactiveModeTimeout": 60,
 #
+# interactiveModeByDefault (boolean-int)
+#     DESC: If true (1), drops the user to interactive mode if nothing is specified on the command line. If false (0), displays the help and exits with an error. Note that for `true' to have the expected effect, interactive mode must be enabled (see the `ìnteractiveModeAllowed' option above).
+#  DEFAULT: 1
+"interactiveModeByDefault": 1,
+#
 # enableSyslog (boolean-int)
 #     DESC: If set to 0, syslog will be disabled. If set to 1, we'll send logs through syslog (don't forget to setup your syslogd)
 #  DEFAULT: 1
diff --git a/lib/perl/OVH/Bastion/configuration.inc b/lib/perl/OVH/Bastion/configuration.inc
index 90324cc..0abf7ea 100644
--- a/lib/perl/OVH/Bastion/configuration.inc
+++ b/lib/perl/OVH/Bastion/configuration.inc
@@ -201,7 +201,10 @@ sub load_configuration {
     $C->{'idleLockTimeout'} = 0 if ($C->{'idleKillTimeout'} <= $C->{'idleLockTimeout'});
 
     # booleans that can only be 0 or 1 and default to 1
-    foreach my $key (qw{ enableSyslog enableGlobalAccessLog enableAccountAccessLog enableGlobalSqlLog enableAccountSqlLog displayLastLogin }) {
+    foreach my $key (qw{
+        enableSyslog enableGlobalAccessLog enableAccountAccessLog enableGlobalSqlLog enableAccountSqlLog displayLastLogin
+        interactiveModeByDefault
+        }) {
         $C->{$key} = 1 if (not defined $C->{$key} or $C->{$key} !~ /^\d+$/);
         $C->{$key} > 1 and $C->{$key} = 1;
     }