diff --git a/roles/archbuild/files/gitpkg b/roles/archbuild/files/gitpkg
index dff42d6bab4b5af5da47ec4a7eb28f2b3f1c7aaf..84175dd7dc4de5ce2561ea4de7394e59d7cb10a3 100755
--- a/roles/archbuild/files/gitpkg
+++ b/roles/archbuild/files/gitpkg
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ class Repo
     end
 
     log '--stat=80', commit
-    system 'git', 'show', "#{commit}:NEWS"
+    system('git', 'show', "#{commit}:NEWS") if read_file(commit, "NEWS")
 
     commit
   end