diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index dc2a208cd6d6296c720a95a4f5874a7d146cb396..3e2950e86d8e7b71291f9ab522e8700b333917f9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ else
   ASTSBINDIR=$(sbindir)
   ASTSPOOLDIR=$(localstatedir)/spool/asterisk
   ASTLOGDIR=$(localstatedir)/log/asterisk
-  ASTVARRUNDIR=$(localstatedir)/run
+  ASTVARRUNDIR=$(localstatedir)/run/asterisk
   ASTMANDIR=$(mandir)
 ifneq ($(findstring BSD,$(OSARCH)),)
   ASTVARLIBDIR=$(prefix)/share/asterisk
@@ -805,22 +805,28 @@ install-logrotate:
 config:
 	@if [ "${OSARCH}" = "linux-gnu" ]; then \
 		if [ -f /etc/redhat-release -o -f /etc/fedora-release ]; then \
-			$(INSTALL) -m 755 contrib/init.d/rc.redhat.asterisk $(DESTDIR)/etc/rc.d/init.d/asterisk; \
+			cat contrib/init.d/rc.redhat.asterisk | sed 's|__ASTERISK_ETC_DIR__|$(ASTETCDIR);s|__ASTERISK_SBIN_DIR__|$(ASTSBINDIR)|;s|__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__|$(ASTVARRUNDIR)|;' > $(DESTDIR)/etc/rc.d/init.d/asterisk ;\
+			chmod 755 $(DESTDIR)/etc/rc.d/init.d/asterisk;\
 			if [ -z "$(DESTDIR)" ]; then /sbin/chkconfig --add asterisk; fi; \
 		elif [ -f /etc/debian_version ]; then \
-			$(INSTALL) -m 755 contrib/init.d/rc.debian.asterisk $(DESTDIR)/etc/init.d/asterisk; \
+			cat contrib/init.d/rc.debian.asterisk | sed 's|__ASTERISK_ETC_DIR__|$(ASTETCDIR);s|__ASTERISK_SBIN_DIR__|$(ASTSBINDIR)|;s|__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__|$(ASTVARRUNDIR)|;' > $(DESTDIR)/etc/init.d/asterisk ;\
+			chmod 755 $(DESTDIR)/etc/init.d/asterisk;\
 			if [ -z "$(DESTDIR)" ]; then /usr/sbin/update-rc.d asterisk start 50 2 3 4 5 . stop 91 2 3 4 5 .; fi; \
 		elif [ -f /etc/gentoo-release ]; then \
-			$(INSTALL) -m 755 contrib/init.d/rc.gentoo.asterisk $(DESTDIR)/etc/init.d/asterisk; \
+			cat contrib/init.d/rc.gentoo.asterisk | sed 's|__ASTERISK_ETC_DIR__|$(ASTETCDIR);s|__ASTERISK_SBIN_DIR__|$(ASTSBINDIR)|;s|__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__|$(ASTVARRUNDIR)|;' > $(DESTDIR)/etc/init.d/asterisk ;\
+			chmod 755 $(DESTDIR)/etc/init.d/asterisk;\
 			if [ -z "$(DESTDIR)" ]; then /sbin/rc-update add asterisk default; fi; \
 		elif [ -f /etc/mandrake-release -o -f /etc/mandriva-release ]; then \
-			$(INSTALL) -m 755 contrib/init.d/rc.mandriva.asterisk $(DESTDIR)/etc/rc.d/init.d/asterisk; \
+			cat contrib/init.d/rc.mandriva.asterisk | sed 's|__ASTERISK_ETC_DIR__|$(ASTETCDIR);s|__ASTERISK_SBIN_DIR__|$(ASTSBINDIR)|;s|__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__|$(ASTVARRUNDIR)|;' > $(DESTDIR)/etc/rc.d/init.d/asterisk ;\
+			chmod 755 $(DESTDIR)/etc/rc.d/init.d/asterisk;\
 			if [ -z "$(DESTDIR)" ]; then /sbin/chkconfig --add asterisk; fi; \
 		elif [ -f /etc/SuSE-release -o -f /etc/novell-release ]; then \
-			$(INSTALL) -m 755 contrib/init.d/rc.suse.asterisk $(DESTDIR)/etc/init.d/asterisk; \
+			cat contrib/init.d/rc.suse.asterisk | sed 's|__ASTERISK_ETC_DIR__|$(ASTETCDIR);s|__ASTERISK_SBIN_DIR__|$(ASTSBINDIR)|;s|__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__|$(ASTVARRUNDIR)|;' > $(DESTDIR)/etc/init.d/asterisk ;\
+			chmod 755 $(DESTDIR)/etc/init.d/asterisk;\
 			if [ -z "$(DESTDIR)" ]; then /sbin/chkconfig --add asterisk; fi; \
 		elif [ -f /etc/arch-release -o -f /etc/arch-release ]; then \
-			$(INSTALL) -m 755 contrib/init.d/rc.archlinux.asterisk $(DESTDIR)/etc/rc.d/asterisk; \
+			cat contrib/init.d/rc.archlinux.asterisk | sed 's|__ASTERISK_ETC_DIR__|$(ASTETCDIR);s|__ASTERISK_SBIN_DIR__|$(ASTSBINDIR)|;s|__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__|$(ASTVARRUNDIR)|;' > $(DESTDIR)/etc/rc.d/asterisk ;\
+			chmod 755 $(DESTDIR)/etc/rc.d/asterisk;\
 		elif [ -f /etc/slackware-version ]; then \
 			echo "Slackware is not currently supported, although an init script does exist for it." \
 		else \
diff --git a/contrib/init.d/rc.archlinux.asterisk b/contrib/init.d/rc.archlinux.asterisk
index a4b7c633cede4485b1ed26e62ceeab3540f30b9b..fec62af983bf46361bc268335573642cbd4c2d37 100755
--- a/contrib/init.d/rc.archlinux.asterisk
+++ b/contrib/init.d/rc.archlinux.asterisk
@@ -8,26 +8,31 @@
 #
 . /etc/rc.conf
 . /etc/rc.d/functions
+DAEMON=__ASTERISK_SBIN_DIR__/asterisk
+ASTVARRUNDIR=__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__
 
 case "$1" in
   start)
     stat_busy "Starting Asterisk..."
-    if [ -x /usr/sbin/asterisk ]; then
+	if [ ! -d $ASTVARRUNDIR ]; then
+		mkdir -p $ASTVARRUNDIR
+	fi
+    if [ -x $DAEMON ]; then
       # Check if Asterisk is already running.  If it is, then bug out, because
       # starting safe_asterisk when Asterisk is running is very bad.
-      VERSION=`/usr/sbin/asterisk -rx 'core show version'`
+      VERSION=`${DAEMON} -rx 'core show version'`
       if [ "`echo $VERSION | cut -c 1-8`" = "Asterisk" ]; then
          echo "Asterisk is already running.  $0 will exit now."
          exit 1
       fi
-      /usr/sbin/asterisk
+	  ${DAEMON}
       stat_done
     fi
     ;;
   stop)
-    if [ -r /var/run/asterisk.pid ]; then
+    if [ -r ${ASTVARRUNDIR}/asterisk.pid ]; then
       stat_busy "Stoping Asterisk..."
-      asterisk -rx "core stop now" > /dev/null 2&>1
+      ${DAEMON} -rx "core stop now" > /dev/null 2&>1
       if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
         stat_fail
       else
diff --git a/contrib/init.d/rc.debian.asterisk b/contrib/init.d/rc.debian.asterisk
index 76406dbd671ac0ce9a480c0830c3e994b61f8073..86babe83ff9d2fd251a7b7b799979401ca0282f5 100755
--- a/contrib/init.d/rc.debian.asterisk
+++ b/contrib/init.d/rc.debian.asterisk
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
 NAME=asterisk
 DESC="Asterisk PBX"
 # Full path to asterisk binary
-DAEMON=/usr/sbin/asterisk
+DAEMON=__ASTERISK_SBIN_DIR__/asterisk
+ASTVARRUNDIR=__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__
+ASTETCDIR=__ASTERISK_ETC_DIR__
 TRUE=/bin/true
 
 # Uncomment this ONLY if you know what you are doing.
@@ -42,8 +44,8 @@ if ! [ -x $DAEMON ] ; then
         exit 0
 fi
 
-if ! [ -d /etc/asterisk ] ; then
-        echo "ERROR: /etc/asterisk directory not found"
+if ! [ -d $ASTETCDIR ] ; then
+        echo "ERROR: $ASTETCDIR directory not found"
         exit 0
 fi
 
@@ -61,12 +63,18 @@ case "$1" in
 	fi
 
 	log_begin_msg "Starting $DESC: $NAME"
-        if [ $AST_USER ] ; then
-                ASTARGS="-U $AST_USER"
-        fi
-        if [ $AST_GROUP ] ; then
-                ASTARGS="$ASTARGS -G $AST_GROUP"
-        fi
+	if [ ! -d $ASTVARRUNDIR ]; then
+		mkdir -p $ASTVARRUNDIR
+	fi
+
+	if [ $AST_USER ] ; then
+		ASTARGS="-U $AST_USER"
+		chown $AST_USER $ASTVARRUNDIR
+	fi
+	if [ $AST_GROUP ] ; then
+		ASTARGS="$ASTARGS -G $AST_GROUP"
+		chown $AST_GROUP $ASTVARRUNDIR
+	fi
 	# "start-stop-daemon --oknodo" returns 0 even if Asterisk was already running (as LSB expects):
 	start-stop-daemon --start --oknodo --exec $DAEMON -- $ASTARGS
 	log_end_msg $?
diff --git a/contrib/scripts/safe_asterisk b/contrib/scripts/safe_asterisk
index 6f3b5ebef18d281675712bdcc4257e9694f84e88..367f6a6a9c47ee68e2a2b88c18872f69cff521ec 100644
--- a/contrib/scripts/safe_asterisk
+++ b/contrib/scripts/safe_asterisk
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ MACHINE=`hostname`			# To specify which machine has crashed when getting the mai
 DUMPDROP=/tmp
 SLEEPSECS=4
 ASTSBINDIR=__ASTERISK_SBIN_DIR__
-ASTPIDFILE=__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__/asterisk.pid
+ASTVARRUNDIR=__ASTERISK_VARRUN_DIR__
+ASTPIDFILE=${ASTVARRUNDIR}/asterisk.pid
 
 # comment this line out to have this script _not_ kill all mpg123 processes when
 # asterisk exits
@@ -91,6 +92,11 @@ else
 	# set the process's filemax to whatever set above
 	ulimit -n $MAXFILES
 
+	if [ ! -d ${ASTVARRUNDIR} ]; then
+		mkdir -p ${ASTVARRUNDIR}
+		chmod 770 ${ASTVARRUNDIR}
+	fi
+
 fi
 
 if test "x$UMASK" != "x"; then