diff --git a/bin/doins.py b/bin/doins.py
index 13b9c5f..62395e2 100644
--- a/bin/doins.py
+++ b/bin/doins.py
@@ -406,7 +406,11 @@
 				not os.readlink(source).startswith(
 					opts.distdir)):
 				linkto = os.readlink(source)
-				shutil.rmtree(dest, ignore_errors=True)
+				try:
+					os.unlink(dest)
+				except OSError as e:
+					if e.errno == errno.EISDIR:
+						shutil.rmtree(dest, ignore_errors=True)
 				os.symlink(linkto, dest)
 				return True
 		except Exception: