diff --git a/util/upgrade-patches.pl b/util/upgrade-patches.pl
index da95b89..fd8cdea 100755
--- a/util/upgrade-patches.pl
+++ b/util/upgrade-patches.pl
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ my $ver = shift or usage();
 my $newver = shift or usage();
 
 my $newdir = "patches/nginx/$newver";
+system("mkdir -p $newdir") == 0 or die "failed to create directory $newdir: $!\n";
 my @files = `find patches -name '*.patch'`;
 for my $file (@files) {
     chomp $file;
@@ -14,11 +15,6 @@ for my $file (@files) {
     (my $newfile = $file) =~ s{nginx/$ver/}{nginx/$newver/}g;
     $newfile =~ s/nginx-$ver-/nginx-$newver-/g;
     if ($newfile ne $file && !-f $newfile) {
-        unless (-d $newdir) {
-            system("mkdir -p $newdir") == 0
-                or die "failed to create directory $newdir: $!\n";
-        }
-
         my $cmd = "cp $file $newfile";
         system($cmd) == 0
             or die "failed run command $cmd.\n";