diff --git a/other/.empty_on_purpose b/other/.empty_on_purpose
deleted file mode 100644
index da3366b..0000000
--- a/other/.empty_on_purpose
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-If you're reading this file, that means that you found a directory that
-is empty by default when Wicd is installed. Congratulations!
-
-At this point, the directory probably isn't empty, so perhaps the name
-of this file is a little confusing.
-
-Some package managers and some version control systems don't allow for
-installation or storage of empty directories, so this file exists to
-make them work properly. Just ignore it and continue on with your life.
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2102b44..1f4b648 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import os
 import json
 import re
 import configparser
+import pathlib
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 from distutils import log
@@ -64,7 +65,10 @@ data = []
 
 # path to the file to put in empty directories
 # fixes https://bugs.launchpad.net/wicd/+bug/503028
-empty_file = 'other/.empty_on_purpose'
+keep_file = '.keep'
+if not os.path.exists(keep_file):
+    pathlib.Path(keep_file).touch()
+
 
 # change to the directory setup.py is contained in
 os.chdir(os.path.abspath(os.path.split(__file__)[0]))
@@ -352,13 +356,13 @@ class install(_install.install):
             with open('wpath.json') as fobj:
                 wpath = config.Config(json.load(fobj))
 
-        data.extend([(wpath.log, [empty_file]),
-                     (wpath.networks, [empty_file]),
-                     (wpath.scripts, [empty_file]),
-                     (wpath.predisconnectscripts, [empty_file]),
-                     (wpath.postdisconnectscripts, [empty_file]),
-                     (wpath.preconnectscripts, [empty_file]),
-                     (wpath.postconnectscripts, [empty_file])])
+        data.extend([(wpath.log, [keep_file]),
+                     (wpath.networks, [keep_file]),
+                     (wpath.scripts, [keep_file]),
+                     (wpath.predisconnectscripts, [keep_file]),
+                     (wpath.postdisconnectscripts, [keep_file]),
+                     (wpath.preconnectscripts, [keep_file]),
+                     (wpath.postconnectscripts, [keep_file])])
 
         if os.path.exists('data/etc/wicd.conf'):
             data.append((wpath.etc, ['data/etc/wicd.conf']))