diff --git a/package/debian/postinst b/package/debian/postinst
index c5c0b8cd1..5e5de3654 100755
--- a/package/debian/postinst
+++ b/package/debian/postinst
@@ -83,7 +83,8 @@ case "$1" in
 
     # Chown definitions created by SBT Native Packager
 
-    chown cortex:cortex /var/log/cortex
+    touch /var/log/cortex/application.log
+    chown -R cortex:cortex /var/log/cortex
     chown root:cortex /etc/cortex/application.conf /etc/cortex/logback.xml
     chmod 0640 /etc/cortex/application.conf /etc/cortex/logback.xml
 
diff --git a/package/docker/entrypoint b/package/docker/entrypoint
index 9d3b00cee..68241d11b 100755
--- a/package/docker/entrypoint
+++ b/package/docker/entrypoint
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ fi
 
 echo config file is:
 cat "$CONFIG_FILE"
+touch /var/log/cortex/application.log
 chown -R "$DAEMON_USER" /var/log/cortex
 chown -R "$DAEMON_USER" /etc/cortex
 chown -R "$DAEMON_USER" "$CONFIG_FILE"