diff --git a/etc/slurm.conf.example b/etc/slurm.conf.example
index fdbc142106c51a54dc4c3c937215fa65dfe7d8e5..9c1b47667ec299739b9fd96c2d86cf908d26e6c2 100644
--- a/etc/slurm.conf.example
+++ b/etc/slurm.conf.example
@@ -116,7 +116,8 @@
 # SlurmdLogFile=/var/log/slurmd.log        # default is to log via syslog()
 
 
-# o Define an alternate location for slurmd and slurmctld pid files
+# o Define an alternate location for slurmd and slurmctld pid files, 
+#   SlurmctldPidFile and SlurmdPidFile should have different values
 #  
 #    "SlurmctldPidFile" : fully qualified pathname containing slurmctld pid
 #
diff --git a/etc/slurm.conf.localhost b/etc/slurm.conf.localhost
deleted file mode 100644
index 2418118a3455f3e838c45d32c1765ed156407c30..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/etc/slurm.conf.localhost
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,47 +0,0 @@
-# 
-# Sample /etc/slurm.conf.localhost
-# Author: John Doe
-# Date: 11/06/2001
-# Note: "localhost" is translated by slurmctld to the actual hostname
-#
-ControlMachine=localhost
-#
-AuthType=auth/none
-#Epilog=/admin/sbin/slurm.epilog
-FastSchedule=1
-FirstJobId=65536
-HashBase=10
-HeartbeatInterval=60
-InactiveLimit=120
-JobCompLoc=/var/tmp/slurm.job.log
-JobCompType=jobcomp/filetxt
-JobCredentialPrivateKey=private.key
-JobCredentialPublicCertificate=public.cert
-KillWait=30
-#PluginDir=/var/tmp/slurm/lib/slurm
-#Prolog=/admin/sbin/slurm.prolog
-ReturnToService=0
-SlurmUser=jette
-SlurmctldDebug=3
-#SlurmctldLogFile=/var/tmp/slurmctld.log
-SlurmctldPidFile=/var/run/slurmctld.pid
-SlurmctldPort=7002
-SlurmctldTimeout=300
-SlurmdDebug=3
-#SlurmdLogFile=/var/tmp/slurmd.log
-SlurmdPidFile=/var/run/slurmd.pid
-SlurmdPort=7003
-SlurmdSpoolDir=/var/tmp/slurmd.spool
-SlurmdTimeout=300
-StateSaveLocation=/tmp/slurm.state
-TmpFS=/tmp
-#
-# Node Configurations
-#
-NodeName=DEFAULT TmpDisk=2 State=UNKNOWN
-NodeName=localhost Procs=1 RealMemory=128 Weight=16
-#
-# Partition Configurations
-#
-PartitionName=DEFAULT MaxTime=30 MaxNodes=1
-PartitionName=debug Nodes=localhost State=UP    Default=YES
diff --git a/src/slurmctld/controller.c b/src/slurmctld/controller.c
index 712e2841d8c213c97dc8533fafea56704ec16528..4799bfa69e8bec524ad5d571cb4e100aeda81626 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/controller.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/controller.c
@@ -1081,6 +1081,10 @@ _init_pidfile(void)
 	int   fd;
 	uid_t uid     = slurmctld_conf.slurm_user_id;
 
+	if (strcmp(slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_pidfile,
+	           slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_pidfile) == 0)
+		error("SlurmctldPid == SlurmdPid, use different names");
+
 	if ((fd = create_pidfile(slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_pidfile)) < 0)
 		return;