diff --git a/HpcMarkup.hs b/HpcMarkup.hs
index e618b25ba8989acc6998e6b172c72f5396478f1e..df7e43b5eaa6f77e72ebee4c63268e690a17b0a4 100644
--- a/HpcMarkup.hs
+++ b/HpcMarkup.hs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import Data.List
 import Data.Maybe(fromJust)
 import Data.Array
 import Data.Monoid
+import Control.Monad
 import qualified HpcSet as Set
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -453,7 +454,8 @@ writeFileUsing filename text = do
 
 #if __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ >= 604 
   -- create the dest_dir if needed
-  createDirectoryIfMissing True dest_dir
+  when (not (null dest_dir)) $
+    createDirectoryIfMissing True dest_dir
 #endif
 
   writeFile filename text