diff --git a/Makefile.common b/Makefile.common
index 6c47ea4..61bc853 100644
--- a/Makefile.common
+++ b/Makefile.common
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ preautospec-checks:
 #help to autospec.
 #help For more information, see the project at https://github.com/clearlinux/autospec
 autospec: preautospec-checks pullrebase localreponotice clean-old-content
-	git rm --ignore-unmatch pumpAutospec
+	git rm --ignore-unmatch pumpAutospec || rm -f pumpAutospec
 	@if [ -e $(SPECFILE) ] && ! grep -q "# Generated by: autospec.py" $(SPECFILE) ; then \
 		echo "Specfile already exists and was not created by autospec.py! Aborting."; \
 		exit 1; \