diff --git a/system/hostname b/system/hostname
index 9aa7c206a4b..8a9401d2436 100644
--- a/system/hostname
+++ b/system/hostname
@@ -146,6 +146,12 @@ class DebianStrategy(GenericStrategy):
     HOSTNAME_FILE = '/etc/hostname'
 
     def get_permanent_hostname(self):
+        if not os.path.isfile(self.HOSTNAME_FILE):
+            try:
+                open(self.HOSTNAME_FILE, "a").write("")
+            except IOError, err:
+                self.module.fail_json(msg="failed to write file: %s" % 
+                    str(err))
         try:
             f = open(self.HOSTNAME_FILE)
             try: