diff --git a/djabberd b/djabberd
index 2e09cc2..9292aaf 100755
--- a/djabberd
+++ b/djabberd
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ BEGIN {
 
 $DEBUG = 0;
 
-my ($daemonize);
+my ($daemonize, $uid);
 
 my $conffile;
 
@@ -39,10 +39,12 @@ Getopt::Long::GetOptions(
                          'd|daemon'     => \$daemonize,
                          'debug=i'      => \$DEBUG,
                          'conffile=s'   => \$conffile,
+                         'u|uid=s'      => \$uid,
                          );
 
 my $server = DJabberd->new(
-                           daemonize => $daemonize
+                           daemonize => $daemonize,
+                           uid => $uid
                            );
 
 my @try_conf = ( $conffile, "/etc/djabberd/djabberd.conf", "djabberd.conf" );
diff --git a/lib/DJabberd.pm b/lib/DJabberd.pm
index 04d32f4..2b137e8 100644
--- a/lib/DJabberd.pm
+++ b/lib/DJabberd.pm
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ sub new {
         's2s_port'    => delete $opts{s2s_port},
         'c2s_port'    => delete($opts{c2s_port}) || 5222, # {=clientportnumber}
         'old_ssl'     => delete $opts{old_ssl},
+        'uid'         => delete $opts{uid},
         'vhosts'      => {},
         'fake_peers'  => {}, # for s2s testing.  $hostname => "ip:port"
         'share_parsers' => 1,
@@ -155,6 +156,11 @@ sub set_config_pidfile {
     $self->{pid_file} = $val;
 }
 
+sub set_config_uid {
+    my ($self, $val) = @_;
+    $self->{uid} = $val;
+}
+
 our %fake_peers;
 sub set_fake_s2s_peer {
     my ($self, $host, $ipendpt) = @_;
@@ -284,6 +290,7 @@ sub run {
     $self->_start_server($self->{admin_port}, "DJabberd::Connection::Admin") if $self->{admin_port};
 
     DJabberd::Connection::Admin->on_startup;
+    $self->change_uid() if $self->{uid};
     Danga::Socket->EventLoop();
     unlink($self->{pid_file}) if (-f $self->{pid_file});
 }
@@ -530,6 +537,24 @@ sub _load_config_ref {
     }
 }
 
+sub change_uid {
+    my ($self) = @_;
+    my $uid = $self->{uid};
+
+    die "Cannot change uid if not running as root\n" if ($>);
+    
+    $uid = getpwnam($uid) if ( $uid !~ /^\d+$/ );
+    die "Inexistant user $self->{uid}" if ! $uid;
+
+    # otherwise, we will not be able to remove it on termination
+    chown($uid, "root", $self->{pid_file}) if (-f $self->{pid_file});
+    
+    POSIX::setuid($uid);
+   
+    die "Couldn't change to uid $self->{uid}" if (!$>);
+}
+    
+
 sub daemonize {
     my($pid, $sess_id, $i);