diff --git a/debian/adduser.sh b/debian/adduser.sh
index 5c484e2925..8d9ea8e8e5 100755
--- a/debian/adduser.sh
+++ b/debian/adduser.sh
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ test -n "${gitlab_user}" || gitlab_user="gitlab"
 
 # Create gitlab user with home in /var/lib
 echo "Creating/updating ${gitlab_user} user account..."
-adduser --system --home /var/lib/${gitlab_user} --gecos "${gitlab_user} user" --shell /bin/sh \
+adduser --system --home ${gitlab_data_dir} --gecos "${gitlab_user} user" --shell /bin/sh \
 	--quiet --disabled-password --group ${gitlab_user} || {
 echo "Proceeding with existing ${gitlab_user} user..."
   }
-echo "Making ${gitlab_user} owner of /var/lib/${gitlab_user}..."
-chown -R ${gitlab_user} /var/lib/${gitlab_user}
+echo "Making ${gitlab_user} owner of ${gitlab_data_dir}..."
+chown -R ${gitlab_user} ${gitlab_data_dir}
diff --git a/debian/conf/gitlab-debian.conf.example b/debian/conf/gitlab-debian.conf.example
index fc938d5472..b84973353d 100644
--- a/debian/conf/gitlab-debian.conf.example
+++ b/debian/conf/gitlab-debian.conf.example
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 RAILS_ENV=production
 DB=postgres
-gitlab_user=gitlab
 gitlab_app_root=/usr/share/gitlab
 gitlab_data_dir=/var/lib/gitlab
 gitlab_cache_path=/var/cache/gitlab
diff --git a/debian/postinst b/debian/postinst
index ad7751992c..035996838d 100755
--- a/debian/postinst
+++ b/debian/postinst
@@ -44,6 +44,14 @@ export $(cat ${gitlab_debian_conf_private})
 # If /etc/gitlab/gitlab-debian.conf is already present, use it
 test -f ${gitlab_debian_conf} && export $(cat ${gitlab_debian_conf})
 
+# Read gitlab_user from debconf db
+db_get gitlab/user
+gitlab_user=${RET:-gitlab} >/dev/null
+
+if ! grep gitlab_user ${gitlab_debian_conf_private}; then
+  echo "gitlab_user=${gitlab_user}" >> ${gitlab_debian_conf_private}
+fi
+
 # Create gitlab user
 . /usr/lib/gitlab/scripts/adduser.sh