diff --git a/debian/adduser.sh b/debian/adduser.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..1deaae7a65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/adduser.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# add diaspora system user (requires adduser >= 3.34)
+# don't muck around with this unless you KNOW what you're doing
+user=gitlab
+
+echo "Creating/updating $user user account..."
+adduser --system --home /usr/share/$user \
+	--gecos "$user system user" --shell /bin/false \
+	--quiet --disabled-password --disabled-login $user || {
+  # adduser failed. Why?
+  if [ `getent passwd $user|awk -F ':' '{print $3}'` -gt 999 ] >/dev/null ; then
+	echo "Non-system user $user found. I will not overwrite a non-system" >&2
+	echo "user.  Remove the user and reinstall diaspora." >&2
+	exit 1
+  fi
+  # unknown adduser error, simply exit
+  exit 1
+  }
diff --git a/debian/install b/debian/install
index f85a93f55e..1e3852728d 100644
--- a/debian/install
+++ b/debian/install
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 debian/gitlab-debian.conf etc/gitlab
+debian/adduser.sh usr/lib/gitlab/scripts
 app usr/share/gitlab
 bin usr/share/gitlab
 CHANGELOG usr/share/gitlab
diff --git a/debian/postinst b/debian/postinst
index 80c794d531..e8d57d2a71 100755
--- a/debian/postinst
+++ b/debian/postinst
@@ -30,8 +30,9 @@ case "$1" in
     configure)
 
 	. /etc/gitlab/gitlab-debian.conf
+	. /usr/lib/gitlab/scripts/adduser.sh
 	chown -R ${gitlab_user}: ${gitlab_home}
-	cd ${diaspora_home}
+	cd ${gitlab_home}
 	
 	echo "Setting up environment varibales..."
 	export RAILS_ENV=production