diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/kippo.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/kippo.nix
index 68f26eefe27e..7d70a3d05fa7 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/kippo.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/kippo.nix
@@ -86,8 +86,7 @@ rec {
       wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
       environment.PYTHONPATH = "${pkgs.kippo}/src/:${pkgs.pythonPackages.pycrypto}/lib/python2.7/site-packages/:${pkgs.pythonPackages.pyasn1}/lib/python2.7/site-packages/:${pkgs.pythonPackages.python}/lib/python2.7/site-packages/:${pkgs.pythonPackages.twisted}/lib/python2.7/site-packages/:.";
       preStart = ''
-        if [ ! -d ${cfg.varPath}/ ] ; then 
-            mkdir -p ${cfg.pidPath}
+        if [ ! -d ${cfg.varPath}/ ] ; then
             mkdir -p ${cfg.logPath}/tty
             mkdir -p ${cfg.logPath}/dl
             mkdir -p ${cfg.varPath}/keys
@@ -97,12 +96,15 @@ rec {
             cp ${pkgs.kippo}/src/txtcmds ${cfg.varPath} -r
 
             chmod u+rw ${cfg.varPath} -R
-            chmod u+rw ${cfg.pidPath}
             chown kippo.kippo ${cfg.varPath} -R
-            chown kippo.kippo ${cfg.pidPath}
             chown kippo.kippo ${cfg.logPath} -R
             chmod u+rw ${cfg.logPath} -R
         fi
+        if [ ! -d ${cfg.pidPath}/ ] ; then
+            mkdir -p ${cfg.pidPath}
+            chmod u+rw ${cfg.pidPath}
+            chown kippo.kippo ${cfg.pidPath}
+        fi
       '';
 
       serviceConfig.ExecStart = "${pkgs.pythonPackages.twisted}/bin/twistd -y ${pkgs.kippo}/src/kippo.tac --syslog --rundir=${cfg.varPath}/ --pidfile=${cfg.pidPath}/kippo.pid --prefix=kippo -n";