diff --git a/xprof/xprof.rb.in b/xprof/xprof.rb.in
index e66015e4..8f7b7a36 100755
--- a/xprof/xprof.rb.in
+++ b/xprof/xprof.rb.in
@@ -707,8 +707,7 @@ if __FILE__ == $PROGRAM_NAME
   parser.on('--trace-output PATH', 'Define where the ctf trace will be saved',
             'Default path is something like: $THAPI_HOME/thapi-traces/thapi--%Y-%m-%d--%Hh%Mm%Ss',
             '$THAPI_HOME defaults to $HOME') do |p|
-    raise(OptionParser::ParseError, "#{p} already exists") if File.exist?(p)
-
+    raise(OptionParser::ParseError, "#{p} already exists") if mpi_master? && File.exist?(p)
     p
   end