diff --git a/roles/fetch-stestr-output/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/fetch-stestr-output/tasks/main.yaml
index baa10b174..3209c51c7 100644
--- a/roles/fetch-stestr-output/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/fetch-stestr-output/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
   synchronize:
     dest: "{{ zuul.executor.log_root }}"
     mode: pull
-    rsync_opts:
-      - "--ignore-missing-args"
     src: "{{ zuul_work_dir }}/{{ item }}"
     verify_host: true
   with_items:
@@ -21,3 +19,5 @@
     - "*testrepository.subunit.gz"
   when:
     - stestr_stat.stat.exists
+  # some tox runs may not create test-results
+  failed_when: false
diff --git a/roles/fetch-testr-output/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/fetch-testr-output/tasks/main.yaml
index 0fe37b821..58b73f01d 100644
--- a/roles/fetch-testr-output/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/fetch-testr-output/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
   synchronize:
     dest: "{{ zuul.executor.log_root }}"
     mode: pull
-    rsync_opts:
-      - "--ignore-missing-args"
     src: "{{ zuul_work_dir }}/{{ item }}"
     verify_host: true
   with_items:
@@ -21,3 +19,5 @@
     - "*testrepository.subunit.gz"
   when:
     - testrepository_stat.stat.exists
+  # some tox runs may not create test-results
+  failed_when: false
diff --git a/roles/fetch-tox-output/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/fetch-tox-output/tasks/main.yaml
index 6640460d8..9dfb1bf8f 100644
--- a/roles/fetch-tox-output/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/fetch-tox-output/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -40,4 +40,4 @@
   with_items: "{{ envlist }}"
   # some tox runs may not create a virtualenv and thus have
   # no ./tox/env directory
-  ignore_errors: yes
+  failed_when: false