diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 92fb202..196e831 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ SET(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake_modules/")
 IF (NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_SYSCONFDIR) 
   SET(CMAKE_INSTALL_SYSCONFDIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/etc")
 ENDIF()
+IF (NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_VARDIR) 
+  SET(CMAKE_INSTALL_VARDIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/var")
+ENDIF()
 
 IF ( NOT DEFINED WITH_DAEMON )
   SET(WITH_DAEMON ON)
@@ -112,6 +115,16 @@ install (FILES      ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/config/openalpr.conf DESTINATION
 IF (WITH_DAEMON)
   install (TARGETS    alprd DESTINATION  ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/bin)
   install (FILES      ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/../config/alprd.conf DESTINATION    ${CMAKE_INSTALL_SYSCONFDIR}/openalpr      COMPONENT config)
+
+  install (FILES      ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/../upstart/alprd.conf DESTINATION    ${CMAKE_INSTALL_SYSCONFDIR}/init      COMPONENT config)
+
+  # Ideally, these two files should be owned by the "daemon" user, but cmake does not seem to allow that
+  # Making them world writable as a hack
+  install (FILES      ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/../upstart/alprd.log   DESTINATION    ${CMAKE_INSTALL_VARDIR}/log  
+           PERMISSIONS OWNER_EXECUTE OWNER_WRITE OWNER_READ GROUP_READ GROUP_WRITE WORLD_READ WORLD_WRITE    )
+  install (FILES      ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/../upstart/alprd.pid  DESTINATION    ${CMAKE_INSTALL_VARDIR}/run  
+           PERMISSIONS OWNER_EXECUTE OWNER_WRITE OWNER_READ GROUP_READ GROUP_WRITE WORLD_READ WORLD_WRITE    )
+
 ENDIF()
 
 
diff --git a/upstart/alprd.conf b/upstart/alprd.conf
index 257d5a1..26dfed3 100644
--- a/upstart/alprd.conf
+++ b/upstart/alprd.conf
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ expect fork
 respawn
 respawn limit 5 30
 
-env uid=watchtower
-env gid=watchtower
+env uid=daemon
+env gid=daemon
 
 env DAEMON=/usr/bin/alprd
 env DAEMON_ARGS="-l /var/log/alprd.log -n 20"
diff --git a/upstart/alprd.log b/upstart/alprd.log
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/upstart/alprd.pid b/upstart/alprd.pid
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29