diff --git a/Dockerfile-alpine.template b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
index 3d6236e6e8..3bcc57159e 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-alpine.template
+++ b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
@@ -203,7 +203,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 
 # make the sample config easier to munge (and "correct by default")
 RUN set -eux; \
-	cp -v /usr/local/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample /usr/local/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample.orig; \
+	mkdir -p /etc/postgresql/conf.d; \
+	mv -v /usr/local/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample /usr/local/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample.orig; \
+    awk '/# CONFIG FILE INCLUDES/ {print; getline; print; print "\ninclude_dir = '\''/etc/postgresql/conf.d'\''"; next} 1' /usr/local/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample.orig > /usr/local/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample; \
 	sed -ri "s!^#?(listen_addresses)\s*=\s*\S+.*!\1 = '*'!" /usr/local/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample; \
 	grep -F "listen_addresses = '*'" /usr/local/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile-debian.template b/Dockerfile-debian.template
index 1fa84903ac..a720a19165 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-debian.template
+++ b/Dockerfile-debian.template
@@ -173,10 +173,11 @@ RUN set -ex; \
 # make the sample config easier to munge (and "correct by default")
 RUN set -eux; \
 	dpkg-divert --add --rename --divert "/usr/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample.dpkg" "/usr/share/postgresql/$PG_MAJOR/postgresql.conf.sample"; \
-	cp -v /usr/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample.dpkg /usr/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample; \
-	ln -sv ../postgresql.conf.sample "/usr/share/postgresql/$PG_MAJOR/"; \
+	mkdir -p /etc/postgresql/conf.d; \
+	awk '/# CONFIG FILE INCLUDES/ {print; getline; print; print "\ninclude_dir = '\''/etc/postgresql/conf.d'\''"; next} 1' /usr/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample.dpkg > /usr/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample; \
 	sed -ri "s!^#?(listen_addresses)\s*=\s*\S+.*!\1 = '*'!" /usr/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample; \
-	grep -F "listen_addresses = '*'" /usr/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample
+	grep -F "listen_addresses = '*'" /usr/share/postgresql/postgresql.conf.sample; \
+	ln -sv ../postgresql.conf.sample "/usr/share/postgresql/$PG_MAJOR/";
 
 RUN install --verbose --directory --owner postgres --group postgres --mode 3777 /var/run/postgresql