diff --git a/scripts/daemon/phabricator_daemon_launcher.php b/scripts/daemon/phabricator_daemon_launcher.php
index ef2806d5ba..671be82fef 100755
--- a/scripts/daemon/phabricator_daemon_launcher.php
+++ b/scripts/daemon/phabricator_daemon_launcher.php
@@ -1,207 +1,201 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env php
 <?php
 
 /*
  * Copyright 2011 Facebook, Inc.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
  * You may obtain a copy of the License at
  *
  *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
  *
  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
 $root = dirname(dirname(dirname(__FILE__)));
 require_once $root.'/scripts/__init_script__.php';
 require_once $root.'/scripts/__init_env__.php';
 
 phutil_require_module('phabricator', 'infrastructure/daemon/control');
 $control = new PhabricatorDaemonControl();
 
-$phd_dir = PhabricatorEnv::getEnvConfig('phd.pid-directory');
-$pid_dir = $phd_dir.'/pid';
-
 switch (isset($argv[1]) ? $argv[1] : 'help') {
   case 'list':
     $err = $control->executeListCommand();
     exit($err);
 
   case 'status':
     $err = $control->executeStatusCommand();
     exit($err);
 
   case 'stop':
     $err = $control->executeStopCommand();
     exit($err);
 
   case 'repository-launch-readonly':
     $need_launch = phd_load_tracked_repositories_of_type('git');
     if (!$need_launch) {
       echo "There are no repositories with tracking enabled.\n";
     } else {
       foreach ($need_launch as $repository) {
         $name = $repository->getName();
         $callsign = $repository->getCallsign();
         $desc = "'{$name}' ({$callsign})";
         $phid = $repository->getPHID();
 
         echo "Launching 'git fetch' daemon on the {$desc} repository...\n";
         $control->launchDaemon(
           'PhabricatorRepositoryGitFetchDaemon',
           array(
             $phid,
           ));
       }
     }
     break;
 
   case 'repository-launch-master':
     $need_launch = phd_load_tracked_repositories();
     if (!$need_launch) {
       echo "There are no repositories with tracking enabled.\n";
     } else {
       foreach ($need_launch as $repository) {
         $name = $repository->getName();
         $callsign = $repository->getCallsign();
         $desc = "'{$name}' ({$callsign})";
         $phid = $repository->getPHID();
 
         switch ($repository->getVersionControlSystem()) {
           case 'git':
             echo "Launching 'git fetch' daemon on the {$desc} repository...\n";
             $control->launchDaemon(
               'PhabricatorRepositoryGitFetchDaemon',
               array(
                 $phid,
               ));
             echo "Launching discovery daemon on the {$desc} repository...\n";
             $control->launchDaemon(
               'PhabricatorRepositoryGitCommitDiscoveryDaemon',
               array(
                 $phid,
               ));
             break;
           case 'svn':
             echo "Launching discovery daemon on the {$desc} repository...\n";
             $control->launchDaemon(
               'PhabricatorRepositorySvnCommitDiscoveryDaemon',
               array(
                 $phid,
               ));
             break;
         }
       }
 
       echo "Launching CommitTask daemon...\n";
       $control->launchDaemon(
         'PhabricatorRepositoryCommitTaskDaemon',
         array());
 
       echo "Done.\n";
     }
     break;
 
   case 'launch':
     $daemon = idx($argv, 2);
     if (!$daemon) {
       throw new Exception("Daemon name required!");
     }
 
     $pass_argv = array_slice($argv, 3);
 
     $n = 1;
     if (is_numeric($daemon)) {
       $n = $daemon;
       if ($n < 1) {
         throw new Exception("Count must be at least 1!");
       }
       $daemon = idx($argv, 3);
       if (!$daemon) {
         throw new Exception("Daemon name required!");
       }
       $pass_argv = array_slice($argv, 4);
     }
 
     $loader = new PhutilSymbolLoader();
     $symbols = $loader
       ->setAncestorClass('PhutilDaemon')
       ->selectSymbolsWithoutLoading();
 
     $symbols = ipull($symbols, 'name');
     $match = array();
     foreach ($symbols as $symbol) {
       if (stripos($symbol, $daemon) !== false) {
         if (strtolower($symbol) == strtolower($daemon)) {
           $match = array($symbol);
           break;
         } else {
           $match[] = $symbol;
         }
       }
     }
 
     if (count($match) == 0) {
       throw new Exception(
         "No daemons match! Use 'phd list' for a list of daemons.");
     } else if (count($match) > 1) {
       throw new Exception(
         "Which of these daemons did you mean?\n".
         "    ".implode("\n    ", $match));
     } else {
       $daemon = reset($match);
     }
 
     echo "Launching {$n} x {$daemon}";
 
     for ($ii = 0; $ii < $n; $ii++) {
       $control->launchDaemon($daemon, $pass_argv);
       echo ".";
     }
 
     echo "\n";
     echo "Done.\n";
 
     break;
 
   case '--help':
   case 'help':
   default:
     $err = $control->executeHelpCommand();
     exit($err);
 }
 
 function phd_load_tracked_repositories_of_type($type) {
   $repositories = phd_load_tracked_repositories();
 
   foreach ($repositories as $key => $repository) {
     if ($repository->getVersionControlSystem() != $type) {
       unset($repositories[$key]);
     }
   }
 
   return $repositories;
 }
 
 function phd_load_tracked_repositories() {
   phutil_require_module(
     'phabricator',
     'applications/repository/storage/repository');
 
   $repositories = id(new PhabricatorRepository())->loadAll();
   foreach ($repositories as $key => $repository) {
     if (!$repository->getDetail('tracking-enabled')) {
       unset($repositories[$key]);
     }
   }
 
   return $repositories;
 }
-
-
-
diff --git a/src/infrastructure/daemon/control/PhabricatorDaemonControl.php b/src/infrastructure/daemon/control/PhabricatorDaemonControl.php
index 48abaa785b..cff0abf72b 100644
--- a/src/infrastructure/daemon/control/PhabricatorDaemonControl.php
+++ b/src/infrastructure/daemon/control/PhabricatorDaemonControl.php
@@ -1,259 +1,270 @@
 <?php
 
 /*
  * Copyright 2011 Facebook, Inc.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
  * You may obtain a copy of the License at
  *
  *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
  *
  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
 final class PhabricatorDaemonControl {
 
 
   public function executeListCommand() {
     $symbols = $this->loadAvailableDaemonClasses();
 
     $symbols = igroup($symbols, 'library');
 
     echo "\n";
     foreach ($symbols as $library => $symbol_list) {
       echo phutil_console_format("Daemons in library __%s__:\n", $library);
       foreach ($symbol_list as $symbol) {
         echo "    ".$symbol['name']."\n";
       }
       echo "\n";
     }
 
     return 0;
   }
 
   public function executeStatusCommand() {
     $daemons = $this->loadRunningDaemons();
 
     if (!$daemons) {
       echo "There are no running Phabricator daemons.\n";
       return 0;
     }
 
     printf(
       "%-5s\t%-24s\t%s\n",
       "PID",
       "Started",
       "Daemon");
     foreach ($daemons as $daemon) {
       $name = $daemon->getName();
       if (!$daemon->isRunning()) {
         $name = '<DEAD> '.$name;
         if ($daemon->getPIDFile()) {
           Filesystem::remove($daemon->getPIDFile());
         }
       }
       printf(
         "%5s\t%-24s\t%s\n",
         $daemon->getPID(),
         $daemon->getEpochStarted()
           ? date('M j Y, g:i:s A', $daemon->getEpochStarted())
           : null,
         $name);
     }
 
     return 0;
   }
 
   public function executeStopCommand() {
     $daemons = $this->loadRunningDaemons();
     if (!$daemons) {
       echo "There are no running Phabricator daemons.\n";
       return 0;
     }
 
     $running = $daemons;
 
     foreach ($running as $key => $daemon) {
       $pid = $daemon->getPID();
       $name = $daemon->getName();
 
       echo "Stopping daemon '{$name}' ({$pid})...\n";
       if (!$daemon->isRunning()) {
         echo "Daemon is not running.\n";
         unset($running[$key]);
       } else {
         posix_kill($pid, SIGINT);
       }
     }
 
     $start = time();
     do {
       foreach ($running as $key => $daemon) {
         $pid = $daemon->getPID();
         if (!$daemon->isRunning()) {
           echo "Daemon {$pid} exited normally.\n";
           unset($running[$key]);
         }
       }
       if (empty($running)) {
         break;
       }
       usleep(100000);
     } while (time() < $start + 15);
 
     foreach ($running as $key => $daemon) {
       $pid = $daemon->getPID();
       echo "KILLing daemon {$pid}.\n";
       posix_kill($pid, SIGKILL);
     }
 
     foreach ($daemons as $daemon) {
       if ($daemon->getPIDFile()) {
         Filesystem::remove($daemon->getPIDFile());
       }
     }
 
   }
 
   public function executeHelpCommand() {
     echo phutil_console_format(<<<EOHELP
 **NAME**
         **phd** - phabricator daemon launcher
 
 **COMMAND REFERENCE**
 
         **launch** [__n__] __daemon__ [argv ...]
             Start a daemon (or n copies of a daemon).
 
         **list**
             List available daemons.
 
         **stop**
             Stop all daemons.
 
         **status**
             List running daemons.
 
         **stop**
             Stop all running daemons.
 
         **help**
             Show this help.
 
         **repository-launch-master**
             Launches daemons to update and parse all tracked repositories. You
             must also launch Taskmaster daemons, either on the same machine or
             elsewhere. You should launch a master only one machine. For other
             machines, launch a 'readonly'.
 
         **repository-launch-readonly**
             Launches daemons to 'git pull' tracked git repositories so they
             stay up to date.
 
 EOHELP
     );
     return 1;
   }
 
   public function launchDaemon($daemon, array $argv) {
     $symbols = $this->loadAvailableDaemonClasses();
     $symbols = ipull($symbols, 'name', 'name');
     if (empty($symbols[$daemon])) {
       throw new Exception("Daemon '{$daemon}' is not known.");
     }
 
     $pid_dir = $this->getControlDirectory('pid');
 
     $libphutil_root = dirname(phutil_get_library_root('phutil'));
     $launch_daemon = $libphutil_root.'/scripts/daemon/';
 
     // TODO: This should be a much better user experience.
     Filesystem::assertExists($pid_dir);
     Filesystem::assertIsDirectory($pid_dir);
     Filesystem::assertWritable($pid_dir);
 
     foreach ($argv as $key => $arg) {
       $argv[$key] = escapeshellarg($arg);
     }
 
     $bootloader = PhutilBootloader::getInstance();
     $all_libraries = $bootloader->getAllLibraries();
 
     $non_default_libraries = array_diff(
       $all_libraries,
       array('phutil', 'phabricator'));
 
     $extra_libraries = array();
     foreach ($non_default_libraries as $library) {
       $extra_libraries[] = csprintf(
         '--load-phutil-library=%s',
         phutil_get_library_root($library));
     }
 
     $future = new ExecFuture(
       "./launch_daemon.php ".
         "%s ".
         "--load-phutil-library=%s ".
         implode(' ', $extra_libraries)." ".
         "--conduit-uri=%s ".
         "--daemonize ".
         "--phd=%s ".
         implode(' ', $argv),
       $daemon,
       phutil_get_library_root('phabricator'),
       PhabricatorEnv::getURI('/api/'),
       $pid_dir);
 
     // Play games to keep 'ps' looking reasonable.
     $future->setCWD($launch_daemon);
 
     $future->resolvex();
   }
 
   protected function getControlDirectory($dir) {
-    return PhabricatorEnv::getEnvConfig('phd.pid-directory').'/'.$dir;
+    $path = PhabricatorEnv::getEnvConfig('phd.pid-directory').'/'.$dir;
+    if (!Filesystem::pathExists($path)) {
+      list($err) = exec_manual('mkdir -p %s', $path);
+      if ($err) {
+        throw new Exception(
+          "phd requires the directory '{$path}' to exist, but it does not ".
+          "exist and could not be created. Create this directory or update ".
+          "'phd.pid-directory' in your configuration to point to an existing ".
+          "directory.");
+      }
+    }
+    return $path;
   }
 
   protected function loadAvailableDaemonClasses() {
     $loader = new PhutilSymbolLoader();
     return $loader
       ->setAncestorClass('PhutilDaemon')
       ->selectSymbolsWithoutLoading();
   }
 
   protected function loadRunningDaemons() {
     $results = array();
 
     $pid_dir = $this->getControlDirectory('pid');
     $pid_files = Filesystem::listDirectory($pid_dir);
     if (!$pid_files) {
       return $results;
     }
 
     foreach ($pid_files as $pid_file) {
       $pid_data = Filesystem::readFile($pid_dir.'/'.$pid_file);
       $dict = json_decode($pid_data, true);
       if (!is_array($dict)) {
         // Just return a hanging reference, since control code needs to be
         // robust against unusual system states.
         $dict = array();
       }
       $ref = PhabricatorDaemonReference::newFromDictionary($dict);
       $ref->setPIDFile($pid_dir.'/'.$pid_file);
       $results[] = $ref;
     }
 
     return $results;
   }
 
   protected function killDaemon(PhabricatorDaemonReference $ref) {
   }
 
 
 
 }