The exact error is:

# /etc/init.d/perceus [start|stop|restart|reload]
You need to initialize Perceus before starting the services!

The problem has to do with how Perceus updates the configuration files. If you are building from source tree (e.g. ./configure && make && make install) then Perceus is smart enough not to update the configuration files that are already present. It will create a new configuration file with the Perceus version appended.