David Albert wrote:

> 
> > This last almost sounds like you've got some funny flags set on
> > the file and/or directory (clutching at straws here!).  What
> > does "ls -loa /var/log" show?  "mount -vv" and "df" output may be
> > helpful too...
> >
> > One more option might be to boot to single user mode and
> > "fsck -f /dev/..." for the partition where your /var lives to
> > make sure there's nothing wrong with the filesystem.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Simon.
> >   
> I think you've hit on it....the sappnd flag is set for both the directory
> and the files in question.  So now how do I turn off this flag?

Use "chflags -R nosappnd /var/log".  See init(8) though - you need to
be at securelevel 0 or -1 to do this.  If securelevel is 1 or greater,
it's easiest to do this in single user mode.

Cheers,
Simon.