diff --git a/sys-apps/gawk/gawk-5.1.1-r1.ebuild b/sys-apps/gawk/gawk-5.1.1-r2.ebuild
similarity index 96%
rename from sys-apps/gawk/gawk-5.1.1-r1.ebuild
rename to sys-apps/gawk/gawk-5.1.1-r2.ebuild
index f4bd1b3e5971d..66f9b1b312de7 100644
--- a/sys-apps/gawk/gawk-5.1.1-r1.ebuild
+++ b/sys-apps/gawk/gawk-5.1.1-r2.ebuild
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ pkg_postinst() {
 		done
 
 		if ! [[ -e ${EROOT}/bin/awk ]] ; then
+			# /bin might not exist yet (stage1)
+			[[ -d "${EROOT}/bin" ]] || mkdir "${EROOT}/bin" || die
+
 			ln -s "../usr/bin/gawk" "${EROOT}/bin/awk" || die
 		fi
 	fi