diff --git a/dkimpy_milter/__init__.py b/dkimpy_milter/__init__.py
index bcdf2a7..4c64891 100644
--- a/dkimpy_milter/__init__.py
+++ b/dkimpy_milter/__init__.py
@@ -354,7 +354,18 @@ def main():
     Milter.set_flags(Milter.CHGHDRS + Milter.ADDHDRS)
     miltername = 'dkimpy-filter'
     socketname = milterconfig.get('Socket')
-    own_socketfile(milterconfig)
+    if socketname is None:
+        if int(os.environ.get('LISTEN_PID', '0')) == os.getpid():
+            lfds = os.environ.get('LISTEN_FDS')
+            if lfds is not None:
+                if lfds != '1':
+                    syslog.syslog('LISTEN_FDS is set to "{0}", but we only know how to deal with "1", ignoring it'.
+                                  format(lfds))
+                else:
+                    socketname = 'fd:3'
+        if socketname is None:
+            socketname = 'local:/var/run/dkimpy-milter/dkimpy-milter.sock'
+    own_socketfile(milterconfig, socketname)
     drop_privileges(milterconfig)
     sys.stdout.flush()
     Milter.runmilter(miltername, socketname, 240)
diff --git a/dkimpy_milter/config.py b/dkimpy_milter/config.py
index bf6551a..3e2c736 100644
--- a/dkimpy_milter/config.py
+++ b/dkimpy_milter/config.py
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ defaultConfigData = {
     'SyslogFacility': 'mail',
     'UMask': 0o07,
     'Mode': 'sv',
-    'Socket': 'local:/var/run/dkimpy-milter/dkimpy-milter.sock',
-    'PidFile': '/var/run/dkimpy-milter/dkimpy-milter.pid',
+    'Socket': None,
+    'PidFile': None,
     'UserID': 'dkimpy-milter',
     'Canonicalization': 'relaxed/simple',
     'InternalHosts': '127.0.0.1',
diff --git a/dkimpy_milter/util.py b/dkimpy_milter/util.py
index 17857d6..56a57a4 100644
--- a/dkimpy_milter/util.py
+++ b/dkimpy_milter/util.py
@@ -115,43 +115,49 @@ def write_pid(milterconfig):
     """Write PID in pidfile.  Will not overwrite an existing file."""
     import os
     import syslog
-    if not os.path.isfile(milterconfig.get('PidFile')):
+    pidfile = milterconfig.get('PidFile')
+    if pidfile is None:
+        return
+    if not os.path.isfile(pidfile):
         pid = str(os.getpid())
         try:
-            f = open(milterconfig.get('PidFile'), 'w')
+            f = open(pidfile, 'w')
         except IOError as e:
             if str(e)[:35] == '[Errno 2] No such file or directory':
-                piddir = milterconfig.get('PidFile').rsplit('/', 1)[0]
+                piddir = pidfile.rsplit('/', 1)[0]
                 os.mkdir(piddir)
                 user, group = user_group(milterconfig.get('UserID'))
                 os.chown(piddir, user, group)
-                f = open(milterconfig.get('PidFile'), 'w')
+                f = open(pidfile, 'w')
                 if milterconfig.get('Syslog'):
                     syslog.syslog('PID dir created: {0}'.format(piddir))
             else:
                 if milterconfig.get('Syslog'):
                     syslog.syslog('Unable to write pidfle {0}.  IOError: {1}'
-                                  .format(milterconfig.get('PidFile'), e))
+                                  .format(pidfile, e))
                 raise
         f.write(pid)
         f.close()
         user, group = user_group(milterconfig.get('UserID'))
-        os.chown(milterconfig.get('PidFile'), user, group)
+        os.chown(pidfile, user, group)
     else:
         if milterconfig.get('Syslog'):
             syslog.syslog('Unable to write pidfle {0}.  File exists.'
-                          .format(milterconfig.get('PidFile')))
+                          .format(pidfile))
         raise RuntimeError('Unable to write pidfle {0}.  File exists.'
-                           .format(milterconfig.get('PidFile')))
+                           .format(pidfile))
     return pid
 
 
-def own_socketfile(milterconfig):
+def own_socketfile(milterconfig, sockname=None):
     """If socket is Unix socket, chown to UserID before dropping privileges"""
     import os
     user, group = user_group(milterconfig.get('UserID'))
     offset = None
-    sockname = milterconfig.get('Socket')
+    if sockname is None:
+        sockname = milterconfig.get('Socket')
+    if sockname is None:
+        return
     if sockname[:1] == '/':
         offset = 0
     elif sockname[:6] == "local:":
diff --git a/man/dkimpy-milter.conf.5 b/man/dkimpy-milter.conf.5
index a7e5d31..bb2a019 100644
--- a/man/dkimpy-milter.conf.5
+++ b/man/dkimpy-milter.conf.5
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ will be checked. [PeerList NOT IMPLEMENTED - included for reference only]
 .TP
 .I PidFile (string)
 Specifies the path to a file that should be created at process start
-containing the process ID.
+containing the process ID.  If not specified, no such file will be created.
 
 .TP
 .I Selector (string)
diff --git a/system/socket-activation/README.md b/system/socket-activation/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4410ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system/socket-activation/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+This directory contains example systemd unit files for running a
+supervised, socket-activated instance of dkimpy-milter.
+
+There are several advantages of using socket activation:
+
+- dkimpy-milter never runs with elevated privileges, they are dropped
+  before any dkimpy-milter code is executed.
+   
+- The socket is opened before dkimpy-milter runs.  This means that
+  clients can connect() to the socket immediately.  So even if there
+  is a delay in dkimpy-milter startup, or in libmilter itself, the
+  connection will not fail.
+  
+- You can set the privileges of a listening Unix-domain socket by an
+  override of ListenGroup= in dkimpy-milter.socket (see
+  systemd.unit(5) for how to override).  This lets you control who has
+  access to the daemon with finer granularity than is available with
+  dkimpy-milter on its own.
+  
+- dkimpy-milter will not consume system resources if it is not used.
+
+- A fully-supervised dkimpy-milter needs no PIDFile, UMask, UserID, or
+  Socket configuation.  This eliminates common race conditions and
+  startup failures, and simplifies the resulting configuration file.
+  
+There is one downside to using socket activation:
+
+- it will only work on systems where libmilter can support connection
+  strings like "fd:3".  This has been supported on Debian and derived
+  systems since sendmail 8.14.4-6 (before Debian Jessie, in early
+  2014), see for example:
+  https://sources.debian.org/src/sendmail/8.15.2-8/debian/patches/socket_activation.patch/
diff --git a/system/socket-activation/dkimpy-milter.service b/system/socket-activation/dkimpy-milter.service
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2116bb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system/socket-activation/dkimpy-milter.service
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=DKIMpy Milter
+Documentation=man:dkimpy-milter(8) man:dkimpy-milter.conf(5)
+Requires=dkimpy-milter.socket
+
+[Service]
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/dkimpy-milter /etc/dkimpy-milter.conf
+User=dkimpy-milter
+
+[Install]
+Also=dkimpy-milter.socket
diff --git a/system/socket-activation/dkimpy-milter.socket b/system/socket-activation/dkimpy-milter.socket
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4338a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system/socket-activation/dkimpy-milter.socket
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=DKIMpy Milter socket
+Documentation=man:dkimpy-milter(8) man:dkimpy-milter.conf(5)
+
+[Socket]
+ListenStream=/run/dkimpy-milter/dkimpy-milter.sock
+SocketMode=0660
+# override SocketGroup to grant access to members of another system group:
+SocketGroup=dkimpy-milter
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=sockets.target