lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm | 4 ++--
 t/httpd-unix.t            | 1 +

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm
index 3d582e355ed70d40f6b9689f791f5e08f0c81d67..4ff7cad493990d81c6ce4d2e896f63cfe7a87032 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ 	return unless defined $pid_file;
 
 	write_pid($pid_file);
 	# for ->DESTROY:
-	bless { pid => $$, pid_file => $pid_file }, __PACKAGE__;
+	bless { pid => $$, pid_file => \$pid_file }, __PACKAGE__;
 }
 
 sub worker_quit { # $_[0] = signal name or number (unused)
@@ -663,7 +663,7 @@ 	do_chown($path);
 }
 
 sub DESTROY {
-	unlink_pid_file_safe_ish($_[0]->{pid}, $_[0]->{pid_file});
+	unlink_pid_file_safe_ish($_[0]->{pid}, ${$_[0]->{pid_file}});
 }
 
 1;
diff --git a/t/httpd-unix.t b/t/httpd-unix.t
index 02f5e4a9a7077515f40f6bd7558a0aaca06bf99f..a0fe1e31c97541c37b3ded69e0de68b4d8db9399 100644
--- a/t/httpd-unix.t
+++ b/t/httpd-unix.t
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@
 	# drop the old parent
 	kill('QUIT', $old_pid) or die "QUIT failed: $!";
 	delay_until(sub { !kill(0, $old_pid) });
+	ok(!-f "$pid_file.oldbin", '.oldbin PID file gone');
 
 	# drop the new child
 	check_sock($unix);