diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index da4ab86..c2fdf86 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ The DBD::Pg Perl module must be installed for these scripts to work.  This can b
 perl -MCPAN -e "CPAN::Shell->force(qw(install DBD::Pg));"
 ```
 
+You may be asked by CPAN for the path to `pg_config`.  You must provide the path, usually it is something like `/usr/pgsql-9.2/bin/pg_config`.  If you do not have the pg_config binary, you will probably need to install the postgresql devel package.
+
 ###          ###
 # Installation #
 ###          ###
diff --git a/script/funcs.pl b/script/funcs.pl
index ac3b0f0..321b209 100644
--- a/script/funcs.pl
+++ b/script/funcs.pl
@@ -277,7 +277,12 @@ sub backup_database{
 sub vacuum{
    unless($skip_vacuum){
       echo("vacuumdb started...");
-      cmd("vacuumdb -a -z -U $db_user 2>&1");
+     
+      my $vac_cmd = "vacuumdb -a -z";
+
+      my $cmd = "test `whoami` == '$db_user' && $vac_cmd 2>&1 || su $db_user -c \"$vac_cmd\" 2>&1";
+
+      cmd($cmd);
       echo("vacuumdb finished.");
    }else{
       echo("Skipping vacuumdb...");