diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index eb1fad1ce..6c2f8ac8c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ build:
 	mkdir -p $(BUILD_DIR)
 
 predepend:
-	sudo sh -c "apt-get install augeas-tools python-bjsonrpc python-augeas python-simplejson pandoc"
+	sudo sh -c "apt-get install augeas-tools python-bjsonrpc python-augeas python-simplejson pandoc python-cheetah"
 	touch predepend
 
 $(BUILD_DIR)/exmachina: build
diff --git a/cfg.sample.py b/cfg.sample.py
index 160272446..8521ca653 100644
--- a/cfg.sample.py
+++ b/cfg.sample.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ user_db = os.path.join(data_dir, "users")
 status_log_file = os.path.join(data_dir, "status.log")
 access_log_file =  os.path.join(data_dir, "access.log")
 users_dir = os.path.join(data_dir, "users")
+pidfile = os.path.join(data_dir, "pidfile.pid")
 
 product_name = "Plinth"
 box_name = "FreedomBox"
diff --git a/plinth.py b/plinth.py
index eb39a4251..3b8a1001a 100755
--- a/plinth.py
+++ b/plinth.py
@@ -80,7 +80,8 @@ def parse_arguments():
    if args.pidfile:
       cfg.pidfile = args.pidfile
    else:
-      cfg.pidfile = "plinth.pid"
+      if not cfg.pidfile:
+            cfg.pidfile = "plinth.pid"
    if args.listen_exmachina_key:
       # this is where we optionally try to read in a shared secret key to
       # authenticate connections to exmachina
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
index da7a4d34e..1a16d1a5f 100755
--- a/start.sh
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@ export PYTHONPATH
 
 sudo killall exmachina.py
 sudo build/exmachina/exmachina.py -v &
-sudo python plinth.py
+python plinth.py
 sudo killall exmachina.py