diff --git a/xtuml/rsl/runtime.py b/xtuml/rsl/runtime.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/xtuml/rsl/runtime.py
+++ b/xtuml/rsl/runtime.py
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ class Runtime(object):
         if self.diff:
             self.append_diff(filename, org, buf)
 
-        if do_write and self.force_emit:
+        if do_write and self.force_emit and os.path.exists(filename):
             st = os.stat(filename)
             os.chmod(filename, st.st_mode | stat.S_IWRITE)
rsl runtime: don't try to chmod files which does not exist