diff --git a/makerpm.pl b/makerpm.pl
index ce15d7761..8f87d3886 100755
--- a/makerpm.pl
+++ b/makerpm.pl
@@ -9,14 +9,13 @@ elsif (-d "$ENV{'HOME'}/rpmbuild") {
 	}
 else {
 	$base_dir = "/usr/src/redhat";
+	$< && die "makerpm.pl must be run as root";
 	}
 $spec_dir = "$base_dir/SPECS";
 $source_dir = "$base_dir/SOURCES";
 $rpms_dir = "$base_dir/RPMS/noarch";
 $srpms_dir = "$base_dir/SRPMS";
 
-$< && die "makerpm.pl must be run as root";
-
 if ($ARGV[0] eq "--nosign" || $ARGV[0] eq "-nosign") {
 	$nosign = 1;
 	shift(@ARGV);