diff --git a/rattail/fablib/certbot.py b/rattail/fablib/certbot.py
index 5283de89978f53b340fac0ad5d37b81048302b02..d246a8e7393ed90ae537094f94334928afe7ecfd 100644
--- a/rattail/fablib/certbot.py
+++ b/rattail/fablib/certbot.py
@@ -32,31 +32,38 @@ from fabric.contrib.files import exists
 from rattail.fablib import apt, get_debian_version
 
 
-def install():
+def install(source=False):
     """
     Install the Let's Encrypt certbot utility
     """
-    version = get_debian_version()
-
-    # debian 7 wheezy
-    if 7 <= version < 8:
+    if source:
         if not exists('/usr/local/src/certbot'):
             with cd('/usr/local/src'):
                 sudo('git clone https://github.com/certbot/certbot')
         sudo('ln --symbolic --force /usr/local/src/certbot/certbot-auto /usr/local/bin/certbot')
 
-    # debian 8 jessie
-    elif 8 <= version < 9:
-        apt.add_source('deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main')
-        apt.install('python-certbot-apache', target_release='jessie-backports')
+    else:
+        version = get_debian_version()
 
-    # debian 9 stretch, or later
-    elif version >= 9:
-        apt.install('python-certbot-apache')
+        # debian 7 wheezy
+        if 7 <= version < 8:
+            if not exists('/usr/local/src/certbot'):
+                with cd('/usr/local/src'):
+                    sudo('git clone https://github.com/certbot/certbot')
+            sudo('ln --symbolic --force /usr/local/src/certbot/certbot-auto /usr/local/bin/certbot')
 
-    # other..? will have to investigate when this comes up
-    else:
-        abort("don't know how to install certbot on debian version {}".format(version))
+        # debian 8 jessie
+        elif 8 <= version < 9:
+            apt.add_source('deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main')
+            apt.install('python-certbot-apache', target_release='jessie-backports')
+
+        # debian 9 stretch, or later
+        elif version >= 9:
+            apt.install('python-certbot-apache')
+
+        # other..? will have to investigate when this comes up
+        else:
+            abort("don't know how to install certbot on debian version {}".format(version))
 
 
 def certonly(*domains):