diff --git a/bin/rndc/unix/os.c b/bin/rndc/unix/os.c
index 8dfdf8d592..1e4cf8a9c7 100644
--- a/bin/rndc/unix/os.c
+++ b/bin/rndc/unix/os.c
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  * WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
  */
 
-/* $Id: os.c,v 1.1 2001/08/03 05:56:22 marka Exp $ */
+/* $Id: os.c,v 1.2 2001/08/04 08:15:02 marka Exp $ */
 
 #include <config.h>
 
@@ -46,18 +46,22 @@ safe_create(const char *filename) {
 	int fd;
 	FILE *f;
         struct stat sb;
+	int flags = O_WRONLY;
 
         if (stat(filename, &sb) == -1) {
                 if (errno != ENOENT)
 			return (NULL);
+		flags = O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_EXCL;
         } else if ((sb.st_mode & S_IFREG) == 0) {
 		errno = EOPNOTSUPP;
 		return (NULL);
-	}
+	} else
+		flags = O_WRONLY|O_TRUNC;
 
-	fd = open(filename, O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_EXCL, S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR);
+	fd = open(filename, flags, S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR);
 	if (fd == -1)
 		return (NULL);
+	(void)fchmod(fd, S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR);
 	f = fdopen(fd, "w");
 	if (f == NULL)
 		close(fd);