diff --git a/deploy/executor-release.yaml b/deploy/executor-release.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e6de9e5cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/executor-release.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+steps:
+  # First, install make
+  - name: "gcr.io/google-appengine/debian9"
+    args: ["sh", "-c", "apt-get update && apt-get install -y make"]
+    volumes:
+    - name: "make"
+      path: "/usr/bin"
+  - name: "gcr.io/google-appengine/debian9"
+    args: ["sh", "-c", "cp -r . /kaniko/ && mkdir -p /workspace/go/src/github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/ && cp -r /kaniko/ /workspace/go/src/github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/"]
+    volumes:
+    - name: "make"
+      path: "/usr/bin"
+  # Then, build the binary
+  - name: "gcr.io/google-appengine/golang"
+    args: ["sh", "-c", "make"]
+    volumes:
+    - name: "make"
+      path: "/usr/bin"
+    dir: go/src/github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kaniko
+    env: ["GOPATH=/workspace/go/"]
+  # Then, build kaniko with kaniko
+  - name: "gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:latest"
+    args: ["--dockerfile=/workspace/deploy/Dockerfile",
+           "--context=/workspace/go/src/github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kaniko/",
+           "--destination=gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:${COMMIT_SHA}"]
diff --git a/pkg/constants/constants.go b/pkg/constants/constants.go
index a98dee17a..93bb37e0d 100644
--- a/pkg/constants/constants.go
+++ b/pkg/constants/constants.go
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ const (
 	//KanikoDir is the path to the Kaniko directory
 	KanikoDir = "/kaniko"
 
+	// KanikoExecutor is the path to the kaniko executor
+	KanikoExecutor = "/kaniko/executor"
+
 	WhitelistPath = "/proc/self/mountinfo"
 
 	Author = "kaniko"
diff --git a/pkg/snapshot/snapshot.go b/pkg/snapshot/snapshot.go
index 32517eaf1..965f6b68b 100644
--- a/pkg/snapshot/snapshot.go
+++ b/pkg/snapshot/snapshot.go
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ func (s *Snapshotter) TakeSnapshotOfFiles(files []string) ([]byte, error) {
 	buf := bytes.NewBuffer([]byte{})
 	w := tar.NewWriter(buf)
 	defer w.Close()
+	filesAdded := false
 	for _, file := range files {
 		info, err := os.Lstat(file)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -96,9 +97,13 @@ func (s *Snapshotter) TakeSnapshotOfFiles(files []string) ([]byte, error) {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		if maybeAdd {
+			filesAdded = true
 			util.AddToTar(file, info, w)
 		}
 	}
+	if !filesAdded {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
 	return ioutil.ReadAll(buf)
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/util/fs_util.go b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
index 3edefacd2..7bdd6a6e1 100644
--- a/pkg/util/fs_util.go
+++ b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ func ExtractFileSystemFromImage(img string) error {
 
 // PathInWhitelist returns true if the path is whitelisted
 func PathInWhitelist(path, directory string) bool {
+	if path == constants.KanikoExecutor {
+		return false
+	}
 	for _, d := range whitelist {
 		dirPath := filepath.Join(directory, d)
 		if pkgutil.HasFilepathPrefix(path, dirPath) {