diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index b745b7ddd8..26eb651d41 100644
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -3777,3 +3777,10 @@ Rytis  May 9 2008
     
     html/inc/
         db_ops.inc
+
+David May 9 2008
+    - client (Unix): when running app, open fd 0 to /dev/null
+        rather than just closing it (from Gabor Gombas)
+
+    client/
+        app_start.C
diff --git a/client/app_start.C b/client/app_start.C
index cff844ad19..c04beefea8 100644
--- a/client/app_start.C
+++ b/client/app_start.C
@@ -743,9 +743,11 @@ int ACTIVE_TASK::start(bool first_time) {
         // If an error happens,
         // exit nonzero so that the core client knows there was a problem.
 
-        // close descriptors
+        // don't pass stdout to the app
         //
-        fclose(stdout);
+        int fd = open("/dev/null", O_RDWR);
+        dup2(fd, 0);
+        close(fd);
 
         // add project dir to library path
         //