diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f4e60abf..11cb916d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 .sass-cache
 /data/config.php
+/data/writeable/*
 /web/css/*
 /log
 /web/zohoverify
diff --git a/controller/action/OpsActions.class.php b/controller/action/OpsActions.class.php
index 9a5d2569..23d09bfa 100644
--- a/controller/action/OpsActions.class.php
+++ b/controller/action/OpsActions.class.php
@@ -10,20 +10,18 @@ class OpsActions extends Actions
   public static function executePostCommit()
   {
     $payload = json_decode($_REQUEST['payload'], true);
-    $rawPost = file_get_contents('php://input');
-    $secret = Config::get('github_key');
-
-    Actions::returnErrorIf(!isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_HUB_SIGNATURE']), "HTTP header 'X-Hub-Signature' is missing.");
-
-    list($algo, $hash) = explode('=', $_SERVER['HTTP_X_HUB_SIGNATURE'], 2) + array('', '');
-    Actions::returnErrorIf(!in_array($algo, hash_algos(), TRUE), 'Invalid hash algorithm "' . $algo . '"');
-    Actions::returnErrorIf($hash !== hash_hmac($algo, $rawPost, $secret), 'Hash does not match. "' . $secret . '"' . ' algo: ' . $algo . '$');
-
     if ($payload['ref'] === 'refs/heads/master')
     {
-      $ret = shell_exec('sudo -u lbry ' . ROOT_DIR . '/update.php  2>&1');
-      echo "Successful post commit (aka the script executed, so maybe it is successful):\n";
-      echo $ret;
+      Actions::returnErrorIf(!isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_HUB_SIGNATURE']), "HTTP header 'X-Hub-Signature' is missing.");
+
+      list($algo, $hash) = explode('=', $_SERVER['HTTP_X_HUB_SIGNATURE'], 2) + array('', '');
+      Actions::returnErrorIf(!in_array($algo, hash_algos(), TRUE), 'Invalid hash algorithm "' . $algo . '"');
+
+      $rawPost = file_get_contents('php://input');
+      $secret = Config::get('github_key');
+      Actions::returnErrorIf($hash !== hash_hmac($algo, $rawPost, $secret), 'Hash does not match. "' . $secret . '"' . ' algo: ' . $algo . '$');
+
+      file_put_contents(ROOT_DIR . '/data/writeable/NEEDS_UPDATE', '');
     }
 
     return [null, []];
diff --git a/data/writeable/.gitkeep b/data/writeable/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/update.php b/update.php
index 35aee7f0..47b5faaa 100755
--- a/update.php
+++ b/update.php
@@ -3,6 +3,19 @@
 
 include __DIR__.'/bootstrap.php';
 
+$options = getopt('f');
+$force = isset($options['f']); // update even if no NEEDS_UPDATE file exists
+
+$needsUpdateFile = ROOT_DIR . '/data/writeable/NEEDS_UPDATE';
+if (!$force && !file_exists($needsUpdateFile))
+{
+  echo "No update necessary\n";
+  return;
+}
+
+unlink($needsUpdateFile);
+
+
 chdir(ROOT_DIR);
 
 Shell::exec('git fetch && git reset --hard origin/master');