diff --git a/deployments/playbooks/deploy.yml b/deployments/playbooks/deploy.yml
index 435cfc65..fe689520 100644
--- a/deployments/playbooks/deploy.yml
+++ b/deployments/playbooks/deploy.yml
@@ -15,9 +15,11 @@
         version: "{{ app_version }}"
         dest: "{{ app_directory }}"
         accept_hostkey: true
-        force: yes
+        force: true
       register: app_updated
       notify: restart nginx
+      become: true
+      become_user: "{{ app_user }}"
 
     - name: Ensure secrets file is present.
       template:
diff --git a/deployments/playbooks/provision.yml b/deployments/playbooks/provision.yml
index 6ab34c68..710e1269 100644
--- a/deployments/playbooks/provision.yml
+++ b/deployments/playbooks/provision.yml
@@ -19,11 +19,3 @@
           - libreadline-dev
           - tzdata
         state: present
-
-    - name: Ensure app directory exists and is writeable.
-      file:
-        path: "{{ app_directory }}"
-        state: directory
-        owner: "{{ app_user }}"
-        group: "{{ app_user }}"
-        mode: 0755
diff --git a/deployments/playbooks/vars.yml b/deployments/playbooks/vars.yml
index 4164ef83..a64f735f 100644
--- a/deployments/playbooks/vars.yml
+++ b/deployments/playbooks/vars.yml
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ passenger_ruby: /usr/local/bin/ruby
 
 # Variables for Ruby installation.
 ruby_install_from_source: true
-ruby_download_url: https://cache.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/2.6/ruby-2.6.0.tar.gz
-ruby_version: 2.6.0
+ruby_download_url: https://cache.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/2.7/ruby-2.7.6.tar.gz
+ruby_version: 2.7.6
 
 # Variables for Node.js installation.
 nodejs_install_npm_user: root