diff --git a/cots/scripts/placeholder.txt b/cots/scripts/placeholder.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..eed293eb610e33893f493529ccf4168f608766a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cots/scripts/placeholder.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+placeholder.txt
diff --git a/cots/tars/placeholder.txt b/cots/tars/placeholder.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..eed293eb610e33893f493529ccf4168f608766a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cots/tars/placeholder.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+placeholder.txt