diff --git a/tasks/cloud_setup_basic.yml b/tasks/cloud_setup_basic.yml
index 4713b5e5d1..af3e07ec1a 100644
--- a/tasks/cloud_setup_basic.yml
+++ b/tasks/cloud_setup_basic.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 - name: put step-tickers in place
   action: copy src="{{ files }}/common/step-tickers" dest=/etc/ntp/step-tickers
-  when: not ansible_cmdline.ostree
+  when: ansible_cmdline.ostree is not defined
 
 - name: enable the service
   action: service name=ntpd state=running enabled=true