diff --git a/debian/postinst b/debian/postinst
index e2ff34a55b..1443310614 100755
--- a/debian/postinst
+++ b/debian/postinst
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ case "$1" in
     su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c "touch ${gitlab_data_dir}/Gemfile.lock"
     ln -sf ${gitlab_data_dir}/Gemfile.lock ${gitlab_app_root}/Gemfile.lock
     
-    if ! [ -f "${gitlab_app_root}" ]; then
+    if ! [ -e ${gitlab_app_root}/.secret ] ; then
       su ${gitlab_user} -s /bin/sh -c "touch ${gitlab_data_dir}/.secret"
       ln -s ${gitlab_data_dir}/.secret ${gitlab_app_root}/.secret
     fi