diff --git a/rootdir/init.rc b/rootdir/init.rc
index a204eab69..bdc456705 100644
--- a/rootdir/init.rc
+++ b/rootdir/init.rc
@@ -138,23 +138,27 @@ on init
     # sets up initial cpusets for ActivityManager
     mkdir /dev/cpuset
     mount cpuset none /dev/cpuset
-    mkdir /dev/cpuset/foreground
-    mkdir /dev/cpuset/foreground/boost
-    mkdir /dev/cpuset/background
-    # system-background is for system tasks that should only run on
-    # little cores, not on bigs
-    # to be used only by init, so don't change the permissions
-    mkdir /dev/cpuset/system-background
+
     # this ensures that the cpusets are present and usable, but the device's
     # init.rc must actually set the correct cpus
+    mkdir /dev/cpuset/foreground
     write /dev/cpuset/foreground/cpus 0
-    write /dev/cpuset/foreground/boost/cpus 0
-    write /dev/cpuset/background/cpus 0
-    write /dev/cpuset/system-background/cpus 0
     write /dev/cpuset/foreground/mems 0
+    mkdir /dev/cpuset/foreground/boost
+    write /dev/cpuset/foreground/boost/cpus 0
     write /dev/cpuset/foreground/boost/mems 0
+    mkdir /dev/cpuset/background
+    write /dev/cpuset/background/cpus 0
     write /dev/cpuset/background/mems 0
+
+    # system-background is for system tasks that should only run on
+    # little cores, not on bigs
+    # to be used only by init, so don't change system-bg permissions
+    mkdir /dev/cpuset/system-background
+    write /dev/cpuset/system-background/cpus 0
     write /dev/cpuset/system-background/mems 0
+
+    # change permissions for all cpusets we'll touch at runtime
     chown system system /dev/cpuset
     chown system system /dev/cpuset/foreground
     chown system system /dev/cpuset/foreground/boost