diff --git a/libtaskotron/file_utils.py b/libtaskotron/file_utils.py
--- a/libtaskotron/file_utils.py
+++ b/libtaskotron/file_utils.py
@@ -56,14 +56,14 @@
     return grabber
 
 
-def download(url, dest, overwrite=False, grabber=None):
+def download(url, dirname, filename=None, overwrite=False, grabber=None):
     '''Download a file.
 
     :param str url: file URL to download
-    :param str dest: either an existing directory or a file path. In the latter
-                     case all parent directories will be created if necessary
-                     and the last fraction of the path will be used as the
-                     file name.
+    :param str dirname  directory path, if the directory does not exist, it gets
+                        created (and all its parent directories).
+    :param str filename name of downloaded file, if not provided basename is
+                        extracted from URL
     :param bool overwrite: if the destination file already exists, whether to
                            overwrite or not. If ``False``, a simple check is
                            performed whether the remote file is the same as the
@@ -75,20 +75,27 @@
     :rtype: str
     :raise TaskotronRemoteError: if download fails or directory can't be created
     '''
-
     if not grabber:
         grabber = get_urlgrabber()
 
-    # get destination file, create dirs if needed
-    if os.path.isdir(dest):
-        dest = os.path.join(dest, os.path.basename(url))
+    if not filename:
+        filename = os.path.basename(url)
+
+
+    if os.path.exists(dirname):
+        if not os.path.isdir(dirname):
+            raise TaskotronRemoteError(
+                "Can't create directory: %r It is an already "
+                "existing file.", dirname)
     else:
         try:
-            makedirs(os.path.dirname(dest))
+            makedirs(dirname)
         except OSError, e:
             log.exception("Can't create directory: %s", dest)
             raise TaskotronRemoteError(e)
 
+    dest = os.path.join(dirname, filename)
+
     # overwrite?
     if os.path.exists(dest):
         if overwrite:
@@ -110,5 +117,4 @@
                 log.exception('Could not delete incomplete file: %s', dest)
         raise TaskotronRemoteError(e)
 
-    return dest
-
+    return dest
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/libtaskotron/koji_utils.py b/libtaskotron/koji_utils.py
--- a/libtaskotron/koji_utils.py
+++ b/libtaskotron/koji_utils.py
@@ -123,33 +123,6 @@
         :raise TaskotronRemoteError: if issues with target directory
         '''
 
-        # Create the rpm_dir if if does not exist
-        #  as fileutils.download requires existing directory
-        # If this is not present, then the first rpm to be downloaded
-        #  will fail to download, because of how file_utils.download()
-        #  is currently written. On line #79, the `dest` is not a dir
-        #  (because it is not yet created), so it is created on line #83
-        #  but as an effect, `dest` is still containing just the dirname
-        #  instead of dirname+rpmname (because line #80 was not executed
-        #  so the lines #89-94 end up going through the else branch
-        #  thus not downloading the first file.
-        # All subsequent downloads are OK, since the rpm_dir (aka dest)
-        #  already exists.
-        # YAY for two hours of debugging!
-        # FIXME: this should be solved better, somehow...
-        if os.path.exists(rpm_dir):
-            if not os.path.isdir(rpm_dir):
-                raise exc.TaskotronRemoteError(
-                        "Can't create directory: %r It is an already "
-                        "existing file.", rpm_dir)
-        else:
-            try:
-                file_utils.makedirs(rpm_dir)
-            except OSError, e:
-                log.exception("Can't create directory: %s", rpm_dir)
-                raise exc.TaskotronRemoteError(e)
-
-
         try:
             rpm_urls = self.nvr_to_urls(nvr,
                                         arches=arches,