diff --git a/fdroidserver/deploy.py b/fdroidserver/deploy.py
index 371f4ddb..12b81bb6 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/deploy.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/deploy.py
@@ -498,20 +498,24 @@ def update_serverwebroot(serverwebroot, repo_section):
         ]
     url = serverwebroot['url']
     logging.info('rsyncing ' + repo_section + ' to ' + url)
-    excludes = _get_index_excludes(repo_section)
-    if subprocess.call(rsyncargs + excludes + [repo_section, url]) != 0:
-        raise FDroidException()
-    if subprocess.call(rsyncargs + [repo_section, url]) != 0:
-        raise FDroidException()
-    # upload "current version" symlinks if requested
-    if config and config.get('make_current_version_link') and repo_section == 'repo':
-        links_to_upload = []
-        for f in glob.glob('*.apk') + glob.glob('*.apk.asc') + glob.glob('*.apk.sig'):
-            if os.path.islink(f):
-                links_to_upload.append(f)
-        if len(links_to_upload) > 0:
-            if subprocess.call(rsyncargs + links_to_upload + [url]) != 0:
-                raise FDroidException()
+    if options.index_only:
+        if subprocess.call(rsyncargs + ['--excludes', "*"] + _get_index_includes(repo_section) + [repo_section, url]) != 0:
+            raise FDroidException()
+    else:
+        excludes = _get_index_excludes(repo_section)
+        if subprocess.call(rsyncargs + excludes + [repo_section, url]) != 0:
+            raise FDroidException()
+        if subprocess.call(rsyncargs + [repo_section, url]) != 0:
+            raise FDroidException()
+        # upload "current version" symlinks if requested
+        if config and config.get('make_current_version_link') and repo_section == 'repo':
+            links_to_upload = []
+            for f in glob.glob('*.apk') + glob.glob('*.apk.asc') + glob.glob('*.apk.sig'):
+                if os.path.islink(f):
+                    links_to_upload.append(f)
+            if len(links_to_upload) > 0:
+                if subprocess.call(rsyncargs + links_to_upload + [url]) != 0:
+                    raise FDroidException()
 
 
 def update_serverwebroots(serverwebroots, repo_section, standardwebroot=True):