diff --git a/cmd/dockerd/config_unix.go b/cmd/dockerd/config_unix.go
index 8e741aa904..ba37121e96 100644
--- a/cmd/dockerd/config_unix.go
+++ b/cmd/dockerd/config_unix.go
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ func installConfigFlags(conf *config.Config, flags *pflag.FlagSet) {
 
 	// Then platform-specific install flags
 	flags.BoolVar(&conf.EnableSelinuxSupport, "selinux-enabled", false, "Enable selinux support")
-	flags.Var(opts.NewUlimitOpt(&conf.Ulimits), "default-ulimit", "Default ulimits for containers")
+	flags.Var(opts.NewNamedUlimitOpt("default-ulimits", &conf.Ulimits), "default-ulimit", "Default ulimits for containers")
 	flags.BoolVar(&conf.BridgeConfig.EnableIPTables, "iptables", true, "Enable addition of iptables rules")
 	flags.BoolVar(&conf.BridgeConfig.EnableIPForward, "ip-forward", true, "Enable net.ipv4.ip_forward")
 	flags.BoolVar(&conf.BridgeConfig.EnableIPMasq, "ip-masq", true, "Enable IP masquerading")
diff --git a/daemon/config/config_unix_test.go b/daemon/config/config_unix_test.go
index 3e7d1be94a..9e52cb70fe 100644
--- a/daemon/config/config_unix_test.go
+++ b/daemon/config/config_unix_test.go
@@ -3,21 +3,18 @@
 package config
 
 import (
-	"io/ioutil"
-	"runtime"
-
 	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/docker/docker/opts"
+	"github.com/docker/docker/pkg/testutil/tempfile"
+	"github.com/docker/go-units"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
-func TestDaemonConfigurationMerge(t *testing.T) {
-	f, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "docker-config-")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-
-	configFile := f.Name()
-
-	f.Write([]byte(`
+func TestGetConflictFreeConfiguration(t *testing.T) {
+	configFileData := string([]byte(`
 		{
 			"debug": true,
 			"default-ulimits": {
@@ -32,7 +29,49 @@ func TestDaemonConfigurationMerge(t *testing.T) {
 			}
 		}`))
 
-	f.Close()
+	file := tempfile.NewTempFile(t, "docker-config", configFileData)
+	defer file.Remove()
+
+	flags := pflag.NewFlagSet("test", pflag.ContinueOnError)
+	var debug bool
+	flags.BoolVarP(&debug, "debug", "D", false, "")
+	flags.Var(opts.NewNamedUlimitOpt("default-ulimits", nil), "default-ulimit", "")
+	flags.Var(opts.NewNamedMapOpts("log-opts", nil, nil), "log-opt", "")
+
+	cc, err := getConflictFreeConfiguration(file.Name(), flags)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.True(t, cc.Debug)
+
+	expectedUlimits := map[string]*units.Ulimit{
+		"nofile": {
+			Name: "nofile",
+			Hard: 2048,
+			Soft: 1024,
+		},
+	}
+
+	assert.Equal(t, expectedUlimits, cc.Ulimits)
+}
+
+func TestDaemonConfigurationMerge(t *testing.T) {
+	configFileData := string([]byte(`
+		{
+			"debug": true,
+			"default-ulimits": {
+				"nofile": {
+					"Name": "nofile",
+					"Hard": 2048,
+					"Soft": 1024
+				}
+			},
+			"log-opts": {
+				"tag": "test_tag"
+			}
+		}`))
+
+	file := tempfile.NewTempFile(t, "docker-config", configFileData)
+	defer file.Remove()
 
 	c := &Config{
 		CommonConfig: CommonConfig{
@@ -44,66 +83,55 @@ func TestDaemonConfigurationMerge(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 	}
 
-	cc, err := MergeDaemonConfigurations(c, nil, configFile)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-	if !cc.Debug {
-		t.Fatalf("expected %v, got %v\n", true, cc.Debug)
-	}
-	if !cc.AutoRestart {
-		t.Fatalf("expected %v, got %v\n", true, cc.AutoRestart)
-	}
-	if cc.LogConfig.Type != "syslog" {
-		t.Fatalf("expected syslog config, got %q\n", cc.LogConfig)
+	flags := pflag.NewFlagSet("test", pflag.ContinueOnError)
+
+	var debug bool
+	flags.BoolVarP(&debug, "debug", "D", false, "")
+	flags.Var(opts.NewNamedUlimitOpt("default-ulimits", nil), "default-ulimit", "")
+	flags.Var(opts.NewNamedMapOpts("log-opts", nil, nil), "log-opt", "")
+
+	cc, err := MergeDaemonConfigurations(c, flags, file.Name())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.True(t, cc.Debug)
+	assert.True(t, cc.AutoRestart)
+
+	expectedLogConfig := LogConfig{
+		Type:   "syslog",
+		Config: map[string]string{"tag": "test_tag"},
 	}
 
-	if configValue, OK := cc.LogConfig.Config["tag"]; !OK {
-		t.Fatal("expected syslog config attributes, got nil\n")
-	} else {
-		if configValue != "test_tag" {
-			t.Fatalf("expected syslog config attributes 'tag=test_tag', got 'tag=%s'\n", configValue)
-		}
+	assert.Equal(t, expectedLogConfig, cc.LogConfig)
+
+	expectedUlimits := map[string]*units.Ulimit{
+		"nofile": {
+			Name: "nofile",
+			Hard: 2048,
+			Soft: 1024,
+		},
 	}
 
-	if cc.Ulimits == nil {
-		t.Fatal("expected default ulimit config, got nil\n")
-	} else {
-		if _, OK := cc.Ulimits["nofile"]; OK {
-			if cc.Ulimits["nofile"].Name != "nofile" ||
-				cc.Ulimits["nofile"].Hard != 2048 ||
-				cc.Ulimits["nofile"].Soft != 1024 {
-				t.Fatalf("expected default ulimit name, hard and soft are nofile, 2048, 1024, got %s, %d, %d\n", cc.Ulimits["nofile"].Name, cc.Ulimits["nofile"].Hard, cc.Ulimits["nofile"].Soft)
-			}
-		} else {
-			t.Fatal("expected default ulimit name nofile, got nil\n")
-		}
-	}
+	assert.Equal(t, expectedUlimits, cc.Ulimits)
 }
 
 func TestDaemonConfigurationMergeShmSize(t *testing.T) {
-	if runtime.GOOS == "solaris" {
-		t.Skip("ShmSize not supported on Solaris\n")
-	}
-	f, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "docker-config-")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-
-	configFile := f.Name()
-
-	f.Write([]byte(`
+	data := string([]byte(`
 		{
 			"default-shm-size": "1g"
 		}`))
 
-	f.Close()
+	file := tempfile.NewTempFile(t, "docker-config", data)
+	defer file.Remove()
 
 	c := &Config{}
-	cc, err := MergeDaemonConfigurations(c, nil, configFile)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
+
+	flags := pflag.NewFlagSet("test", pflag.ContinueOnError)
+	shmSize := opts.MemBytes(DefaultShmSize)
+	flags.Var(&shmSize, "default-shm-size", "")
+
+	cc, err := MergeDaemonConfigurations(c, flags, file.Name())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
 	expectedValue := 1 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024
 	if cc.ShmSize.Value() != int64(expectedValue) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected default shm size %d, got %d", expectedValue, cc.ShmSize.Value())
diff --git a/daemon/config/config_windows_test.go b/daemon/config/config_windows_test.go
index 1c435c630a..92ee8e4acd 100644
--- a/daemon/config/config_windows_test.go
+++ b/daemon/config/config_windows_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ package config
 import (
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/docker/docker/opts"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
 func TestDaemonConfigurationMerge(t *testing.T) {
@@ -35,25 +40,21 @@ func TestDaemonConfigurationMerge(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 	}
 
-	cc, err := MergeDaemonConfigurations(c, nil, configFile)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-	if !cc.Debug {
-		t.Fatalf("expected %v, got %v\n", true, cc.Debug)
-	}
-	if !cc.AutoRestart {
-		t.Fatalf("expected %v, got %v\n", true, cc.AutoRestart)
-	}
-	if cc.LogConfig.Type != "syslog" {
-		t.Fatalf("expected syslog config, got %q\n", cc.LogConfig)
+	flags := pflag.NewFlagSet("test", pflag.ContinueOnError)
+	var debug bool
+	flags.BoolVarP(&debug, "debug", "D", false, "")
+	flags.Var(opts.NewNamedMapOpts("log-opts", nil, nil), "log-opt", "")
+
+	cc, err := MergeDaemonConfigurations(c, flags, configFile)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.True(t, cc.Debug)
+	assert.True(t, cc.AutoRestart)
+
+	expectedLogConfig := LogConfig{
+		Type:   "syslog",
+		Config: map[string]string{"tag": "test_tag"},
 	}
 
-	if configValue, OK := cc.LogConfig.Config["tag"]; !OK {
-		t.Fatal("expected syslog config attributes, got nil\n")
-	} else {
-		if configValue != "test_tag" {
-			t.Fatalf("expected syslog config attributes 'tag=test_tag', got 'tag=%s'\n", configValue)
-		}
-	}
+	assert.Equal(t, expectedLogConfig, cc.LogConfig)
 }
diff --git a/opts/ulimit.go b/opts/ulimit.go
index 5adfe30851..a2a65fcd21 100644
--- a/opts/ulimit.go
+++ b/opts/ulimit.go
@@ -55,3 +55,27 @@ func (o *UlimitOpt) GetList() []*units.Ulimit {
 func (o *UlimitOpt) Type() string {
 	return "ulimit"
 }
+
+// NamedUlimitOpt defines a named map of Ulimits
+type NamedUlimitOpt struct {
+	name string
+	UlimitOpt
+}
+
+var _ NamedOption = &NamedUlimitOpt{}
+
+// NewNamedUlimitOpt creates a new NamedUlimitOpt
+func NewNamedUlimitOpt(name string, ref *map[string]*units.Ulimit) *NamedUlimitOpt {
+	if ref == nil {
+		ref = &map[string]*units.Ulimit{}
+	}
+	return &NamedUlimitOpt{
+		name:      name,
+		UlimitOpt: *NewUlimitOpt(ref),
+	}
+}
+
+// Name returns the option name
+func (o *NamedUlimitOpt) Name() string {
+	return o.name
+}