diff --git a/run.sh b/run.sh
index 4ce1f8a..5a4bd1e 100755
--- a/run.sh
+++ b/run.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,11 @@ mv ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/polycat-$version-* $repo_dir/
 
 # remove old versions
 cd $repo_dir
+# this is the easiest way to make sure it doesn't just fail because no polycat-* exists
+# (which only happens on first run)
+touch polycat-tmp.rpm
 rm $(ls polycat-*.rpm | sort --version-sort | sed '$d')
+rm polycat-tmp.rpm
 
 # update repo
 createrepo_c .