diff --git a/roles/fedmsg/hub/tasks/main.yml b/roles/fedmsg/hub/tasks/main.yml
index 217df07858..5f7be5f7c3 100644
--- a/roles/fedmsg/hub/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/fedmsg/hub/tasks/main.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     mode=0775
     owner=fedmsg
     group=nrpe
-    state=present
+    state=file
 
 - name: fedmsg-hub service
   service: name=fedmsg-hub state=started enabled=yes