diff --git a/hack/verify-openapi-spec.sh b/hack/verify-openapi-spec.sh
index 1c45d19addc..ac56cea1095 100755
--- a/hack/verify-openapi-spec.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-openapi-spec.sh
@@ -32,14 +32,15 @@ TMP_SPECROOT="${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp/openapi-spec"
 _tmp="${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp"
 
 mkdir -p "${_tmp}"
-trap "rm -rf ${_tmp}" EXIT SIGINT
 cp -a "${SPECROOT}" "${TMP_SPECROOT}"
+trap "cp -a ${TMP_SPECROOT} ${SPECROOT}/..; rm -rf ${_tmp}" EXIT SIGINT
+rm ${SPECROOT}/*
+cp ${TMP_SPECROOT}/BUILD ${SPECROOT}/BUILD 
 
 "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/update-openapi-spec.sh"
 echo "diffing ${SPECROOT} against freshly generated openapi spec"
 ret=0
 diff -Naupr -I 'Auto generated by' "${SPECROOT}" "${TMP_SPECROOT}" || ret=$?
-cp -a ${TMP_SPECROOT} "${KUBE_ROOT}/api"
 if [[ $ret -eq 0 ]]
 then
   echo "${SPECROOT} up to date."