diff --git a/borg/archiver.py b/borg/archiver.py
index 6bc9103ff..aa6056a68 100644
--- a/borg/archiver.py
+++ b/borg/archiver.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import traceback
 from . import __version__
 from .helpers import Error, location_validator, archivename_validator, format_line, format_time, format_file_size, \
     parse_pattern, PathPrefixPattern, to_localtime, timestamp, safe_timestamp, \
-    get_cache_dir, get_keys_dir, prune_within, prune_split, \
+    get_cache_dir, prune_within, prune_split, \
     Manifest, remove_surrogates, update_excludes, format_archive, check_extension_modules, Statistics, \
     dir_is_tagged, bigint_to_int, ChunkerParams, CompressionSpec, is_slow_msgpack, yes, sysinfo, \
     EXIT_SUCCESS, EXIT_WARNING, EXIT_ERROR, log_multi, PatternMatcher
@@ -1415,21 +1415,6 @@ class Archiver:
         self.lock_wait = args.lock_wait
         setup_logging(level=args.log_level, is_serve=args.func == self.do_serve)  # do not use loggers before this!
         check_extension_modules()
-        keys_dir = get_keys_dir()
-        if not os.path.exists(keys_dir):
-            os.makedirs(keys_dir)
-            os.chmod(keys_dir, stat.S_IRWXU)
-        cache_dir = get_cache_dir()
-        if not os.path.exists(cache_dir):
-            os.makedirs(cache_dir)
-            os.chmod(cache_dir, stat.S_IRWXU)
-            with open(os.path.join(cache_dir, 'CACHEDIR.TAG'), 'w') as fd:
-                fd.write(textwrap.dedent("""
-                    Signature: 8a477f597d28d172789f06886806bc55
-                    # This file is a cache directory tag created by Borg.
-                    # For information about cache directory tags, see:
-                    #       http://www.brynosaurus.com/cachedir/
-                    """).lstrip())
         if is_slow_msgpack():
             logger.warning("Using a pure-python msgpack! This will result in lower performance.")
         return args.func(args)
diff --git a/borg/helpers.py b/borg/helpers.py
index b8bd8e170..3132cd06c 100644
--- a/borg/helpers.py
+++ b/borg/helpers.py
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ from collections import namedtuple
 from functools import wraps
 import grp
 import os
+import stat
+import textwrap
 import pwd
 import re
 from shutil import get_terminal_size
@@ -211,13 +213,28 @@ class Statistics:
 def get_keys_dir():
     """Determine where to repository keys and cache"""
     xdg_config = os.environ.get('XDG_CONFIG_HOME', os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), '.config'))
-    return os.environ.get('BORG_KEYS_DIR', os.path.join(xdg_config, 'borg', 'keys'))
+    keys_dir = os.environ.get('BORG_KEYS_DIR', os.path.join(xdg_config, 'borg', 'keys'))
+    if not os.path.exists(keys_dir):
+        os.makedirs(keys_dir)
+        os.chmod(keys_dir, stat.S_IRWXU)
+    return keys_dir
 
 
 def get_cache_dir():
     """Determine where to repository keys and cache"""
     xdg_cache = os.environ.get('XDG_CACHE_HOME', os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), '.cache'))
-    return os.environ.get('BORG_CACHE_DIR', os.path.join(xdg_cache, 'borg'))
+    cache_dir = os.environ.get('BORG_CACHE_DIR', os.path.join(xdg_cache, 'borg'))
+    if not os.path.exists(cache_dir):
+        os.makedirs(cache_dir)
+        os.chmod(cache_dir, stat.S_IRWXU)
+        with open(os.path.join(cache_dir, 'CACHEDIR.TAG'), 'w') as fd:
+            fd.write(textwrap.dedent("""
+                Signature: 8a477f597d28d172789f06886806bc55
+                # This file is a cache directory tag created by Borg.
+                # For information about cache directory tags, see:
+                #       http://www.brynosaurus.com/cachedir/
+                """).lstrip())
+    return cache_dir
 
 
 def to_localtime(ts):