diff --git a/debian/rake-tasks.sh b/debian/rake-tasks.sh
index 4330d62efb..ba6d4a7e46 100755
--- a/debian/rake-tasks.sh
+++ b/debian/rake-tasks.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ if [ "$db_relations" = "No relations found." ] || \
   test -f ${gitlab_home}/db/schema.rb || \
   runuser -u ${gitlab_user} -- sh -c \
   "cp ${gitlab_data_dir}/db/schema.rb.template ${gitlab_data_dir}/db/schema.rb"
-  touch ${gitlab_data_dir}/.gitlab_shell_secret
+  runuser -u ${gitlab_user} -- sh -c \
+  "touch ${gitlab_data_dir}/.gitlab_shell_secret"
   runuser -u ${gitlab_user} -- sh -c 'bundle exec rake db:schema:load'
 else
   echo "gitlab_production database is not empty, skipping gitlab setup"