diff --git a/src/ircd.c b/src/ircd.c
index 0e4099713..0f9bbe746 100644
--- a/src/ircd.c
+++ b/src/ircd.c
@@ -1627,7 +1627,8 @@ static void open_debugfile(void)
 		/*(void)printf("isatty = %d ttyname = %#x\n",
 		    isatty(2), (u_int)ttyname(2)); */
 		if (!(bootopt & BOOT_TTY)) {	/* leave debugging output on fd 2 */
-			(void)truncate(LOGFILE, 0);
+			if (truncate(LOGFILE, 0) < 0)
+				fprintf(stderr, "WARNING: could not truncate log file '%s'\n", LOGFILE);
 			if ((fd = open(LOGFILE, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, 0600)) < 0)
 				if ((fd = open("/dev/null", O_WRONLY)) < 0)
 					exit(-1);