diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
index ef829504c..e6a509f41 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Fri Mar 17 18:16:00 2000  Corinna Vinschen <corinna@vinschen.de>
+
+	Patch suggested by Eric Fifer <EFifer@sanwaint.com>
+        * fhandler.cc (fhandler_base::open): Call set_file_attribute()
+        only if a file is really created.
+
 Thu Mar 16 14:15:00 2000  Corinna Vinschen <corinna@vinschen.de>
 
         * security.cc (set_process_privileges): Remove `static'.
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/fhandler.cc b/winsup/cygwin/fhandler.cc
index 2aba80d7f..d33b60c8c 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/fhandler.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/fhandler.cc
@@ -340,7 +340,9 @@ fhandler_base::open (int flags, mode_t mode)
       goto done;
     }
 
-  if (flags & O_CREAT && get_device () == FH_DISK)
+  // Attributes may be set only if a file is _really_ created.
+  if (flags & O_CREAT && get_device () == FH_DISK
+      && GetLastError () != ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS)
     set_file_attribute (has_acls (), get_win32_name (), mode);
 
   namehash_ = hash_path_name (0, get_win32_name ());