diff --git a/mail/debian/changelog b/mail/debian/changelog
index 1ba49aeda6740cf46d0fbf8728f637d93726b1b6..c543353b0eea6500007d0b615597282363cc7990 100644
--- a/mail/debian/changelog
+++ b/mail/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+sympl-mail (11.20210813.0) stable; urgency=medium
+
+  * use systemd socket activation for sympl-mail-poppassd, fixes #315
+
+ -- Tim Stallard <tim@mythic-beasts.com>  Fri, 13 Aug 2021 14:24:33 +0100
+
 sympl-mail (11.20210408.0) stable; urgency=medium
 
   * Spam tagging now works as expected, prefixing the subject of accepted
diff --git a/mail/debian/rules b/mail/debian/rules
index 7daa3a0b15e5dc6b9a1cca2f0e79edae3e1e6235..fdfb7b6286576ea5cd103b727e124ec4e5fe21cd 100755
--- a/mail/debian/rules
+++ b/mail/debian/rules
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ override_dh_auto_clean:
 
 override_dh_systemd_enable:
 	dh_systemd_enable -psympl-mail --name sympl-mail-dict-proxy sympl-mail-dict-proxy.service
-	dh_systemd_enable -psympl-mail --name sympl-mail-poppassd sympl-mail-poppassd.service
+	dh_systemd_enable -psympl-mail --name sympl-mail-poppassd sympl-mail-poppassd.socket
 
 override_dh_installinit:
 	dh_installinit -R --name sympl-mail-dict-proxy
diff --git a/mail/debian/sympl-mail.sympl-mail-poppassd.service b/mail/debian/sympl-mail.sympl-mail-poppassd.service
index 6c21287045bcf487b1789c648efa1b99b7ed6aeb..c6320b8689f6e9515705fafcb9750b5c6c1d11cf 100644
--- a/mail/debian/sympl-mail.sympl-mail-poppassd.service
+++ b/mail/debian/sympl-mail.sympl-mail-poppassd.service
@@ -5,6 +5,3 @@ Description=Sympl: mail poppass daemon
 Type=simple
 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sympl-mail-poppassd
 Restart=always
-
-[Install]
-WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/mail/debian/sympl-mail.sympl-mail-poppassd.socket b/mail/debian/sympl-mail.sympl-mail-poppassd.socket
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b73ef9a247be9b98fb87ad90ba7a23e7a0eaa532
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mail/debian/sympl-mail.sympl-mail-poppassd.socket
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Sympl: mail poppass listener
+
+[Socket]
+ListenStream=127.0.0.1:106
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=sockets.target
diff --git a/mail/sbin/sympl-mail-poppassd b/mail/sbin/sympl-mail-poppassd
index b6ce93353f079ca761fd49622fc84591b14f1647..848223e4dd917ef09bf2311a4fbb8df927ee4a49 100755
--- a/mail/sbin/sympl-mail-poppassd
+++ b/mail/sbin/sympl-mail-poppassd
@@ -84,23 +84,18 @@ syslog = Syslog.open( File.basename($0), Syslog::LOG_NDELAY && Syslog::LOG_PERRO
 Symbiosis::Email::PoppassHandler.prefix = prefix
 Symbiosis::Email::PoppassHandler.syslog = syslog
 
-# If we use systemd socket activation in future, here's how.
-#
-# SD_LISTEN_FDS_START = 3
-#
-# if ENV['LISTEN_PID'].to_i == $$
-#   # use existing socket passed from systemd
-#   systemd_socket = Socket.for_fd(SD_LISTEN_FDS_START + 0)
-#   syslog.info "Got socket #{SD_LISTEN_FDS_START + 0} from systemd"
-# end
-
 EventMachine.run do
   begin
-    EventMachine.start_server "127.0.0.1", port, Symbiosis::Email::PoppassHandler
+    SD_LISTEN_FDS_START = 3
+    if ENV['LISTEN_PID'].to_i == $$
+      #use existing socket passed from systemd
+      systemd_socket = Socket.for_fd(SD_LISTEN_FDS_START + 0)
+      EventMachine.attach_server(systemd_socket, Symbiosis::Email::PoppassHandler)
+    else
+      EventMachine.start_server "127.0.0.1", port, Symbiosis::Email::PoppassHandler
+    end
   rescue StandardError => err
     syslog.info "Caught #{err.to_s} "
     EM.stop
   end
 end
-
-