diff --git a/tasks/fedmsg_base.yml b/tasks/fedmsg_base.yml
index b03480b281..b8e93866e2 100644
--- a/tasks/fedmsg_base.yml
+++ b/tasks/fedmsg_base.yml
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
     owner={{item['owner']}}
     group={{item['group']}}
   with_items: ${fedmsg_certs}
-  when: fedmsg_certs is defined
+  when: fedmsg_certs is not []
   tags:
   - config
 
@@ -57,6 +57,6 @@
     owner={{item['owner']}}
     group={{item['group']}}
   with_items: ${fedmsg_certs}
-  when: fedmsg_certs is defined
+  when: fedmsg_certs is not []
   tags:
   - config
diff --git a/vars/global.yml b/vars/global.yml
index 5767ee7c84..1fb98afca9 100644
--- a/vars/global.yml
+++ b/vars/global.yml
@@ -20,3 +20,4 @@ f19_qcow_id: ami-00000018
 global_pkgs_inst: ['bind-utils', 'joe', 'mailx', 'nc', 'openssh-clients', 
                    'patch', 'postfix', 'rsync', 'strace', 'telnet', 
                    'tmpwatch', 'traceroute', 'vim-enhanced', 'xz', 'zsh' ]
+fedmsg_certs: []