diff --git a/home-manager/roles/laptop.nix b/home-manager/roles/laptop.nix
index 51f4ddfa..960eead3 100644
--- a/home-manager/roles/laptop.nix
+++ b/home-manager/roles/laptop.nix
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ in {
       main = do
         say "Building ~/.modes for apollo"
         nixPath <- myNixPath "${configPath}"
-        bracket (rm canaryPath) (\() -> git "-C" privatePath "restore" canaryPath) $ \() ->
+        bracket (rm "-f" canaryPath) (\() -> git "-C" privatePath "restore" canaryPath) $ \() ->
           nix_build nixPath (params ++ remoteBuildParams) &!> StdOut |> nom
         nix_build nixPath params
         activate_mode
diff --git a/lib/update-system.nix b/lib/update-system.nix
index f374ce32..6accc27a 100644
--- a/lib/update-system.nix
+++ b/lib/update-system.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ in {
     main = do
         paths <- myNixPath "${configPath}"
         args <- getArgs
-        bracket (rm canaryPath) (\() -> exe "/run/wrappers/bin/sudo" "-u" "maralorn" "git" "-C" privatePath "restore" canaryPath) $ \() -> do
+        bracket (rm "-f" canaryPath) (\() -> exe "/run/wrappers/bin/sudo" "-u" "maralorn" "git" "-C" privatePath "restore" canaryPath) $ \() -> do
            nix_build (paths ++ buildSystemParams ++ ["--no-out-link"] ++ remoteBuildParams ++ fmap toString args) &!> StdOut |> nom
         nixos_rebuild (paths ++ ["switch"] ++ fmap toString args) &!> StdOut |> nom
   '';