diff --git a/debian/rake-tasks.sh b/debian/rake-tasks.sh
index 968652cb30..aec5ee08e0 100755
--- a/debian/rake-tasks.sh
+++ b/debian/rake-tasks.sh
@@ -4,10 +4,17 @@
 export $(cat /etc/gitlab/gitlab-debian.conf|xargs)
 
 echo "Initializing database..."
-su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c 'bundle exec rake gitlab:setup RAILS_ENV=production'
-su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c 'bundle exec rake gitlab:shell:install \
-REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379 \
-SHELL_ROOT_PATH=/usr/share/gitlab-shell RAILS_ENV=production'
+if [ "$(sudo -u postgres psql gitlab_production -c '\d')" = \
+"No relations found." ]; then
+  su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c 'bundle exec rake gitlab:setup \
+  RAILS_ENV=production force=yes'
+  su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c 'bundle exec rake gitlab:shell:install \
+  REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379 \
+  SHELL_ROOT_PATH=/usr/share/gitlab-shell RAILS_ENV=production'
+else
+  echo "gitlab_production database is not empty, skipping gitlab setup"
+fi
+
 echo "Precompiling assets..."
 su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c 'bundle exec rake assets:precompile RAILS_ENV=production'