diff --git a/debian/postinst b/debian/postinst
index e05fff732d..05685fbe81 100755
--- a/debian/postinst
+++ b/debian/postinst
@@ -34,24 +34,34 @@ case "$1" in
     # Read and export debian specific configuration
     # Only exported variables will be passed on to gitlab app
     gitlab_debian_conf=/etc/gitlab/gitlab-debian.conf
-    for i in $(cat ${gitlab_debian_conf}); do export $i; done
+    export $(cat ${gitlab_debian_conf}|xargs)
 
     # Create gitlab user
     . /usr/lib/gitlab/scripts/adduser.sh
 
     gitlab_repo_path=${gitlab_data_dir}/repositories
-    mkdir -p ${gitlab_repo_path}
+
+    # Create directories and change ownership
+    for i in ${gitlab_repo_path} ${gitlab_pid_path} ${gitlab_log_dir}\
+    ${gitlab_shell_log}; do
+      mkdir $i
+      chown -R ${gitlab_user}: $i
+    done
+    
+    # Customize permissions
     chmod -R ug+rwX,o-rwx ${gitlab_repo_path}/
     chmod -R ug-s ${gitlab_repo_path}/
     find ${gitlab_repo_path}/ -type d -print0 | xargs -0 chmod g+s
-    chown -R ${gitlab_user}: ${gitlab_home}
-    chown -R ${gitlab_user}: ${gitlab_data_dir}
+    for i in ${gitlab_home} ${gitlab_data_dir} ${gitlab_shell_root}; do
+      chown -R ${gitlab_user}: $i
+    done
 
-    mkdir -p ${gitlab_shell_log}
-    chown -R ${gitlab_user}: ${gitlab_shell_root}
-    chown -R ${gitlab_user}: ${gitlab_shell_log}
     su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c "mkdir -p -m 750 ${gitlab_home}/public/uploads"
+    su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c "mkdir -p ${gitlab_pid_path}/pids"
+    su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c "mkdir -p ${gitlab_pid_path}/sockets"
     su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c 'git config --global core.autocrlf "input"'
+
+    # Commands below needs to be run from gitlab_home
     cd ${gitlab_home}
 
     # Obtain hostname from debconf db