diff --git a/lib/neutron_plugins/ovn_agent b/lib/neutron_plugins/ovn_agent
index 56686f2741..3fc38288f1 100644
--- a/lib/neutron_plugins/ovn_agent
+++ b/lib/neutron_plugins/ovn_agent
@@ -567,12 +567,13 @@ function init_ovn {
     # create new ones on each devstack run.
 
     _disable_libvirt_apparmor
+    local mkdir_cmd="mkdir -p ${OVN_DATADIR}"
 
-    if [[ "$OVN_BUILD_FROM_SOURCE" == "True" ]]; then
-        mkdir -p $OVN_DATADIR
-    else
-        sudo mkdir -p $OVN_DATADIR
+    if [[ "$OVN_BUILD_FROM_SOURCE" == "False" ]]; then
+        mkdir_cmd="sudo ${mkdir_cmd}"
     fi
+
+    $mkdir_cmd
     mkdir -p $OVS_DATADIR
 
     rm -f $OVS_DATADIR/*.db