diff --git a/doc/fixes36.3 b/doc/fixes36.3
index 709d11a3d..d9db05039 100644
--- a/doc/fixes36.3
+++ b/doc/fixes36.3
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-$NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.6 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.161 $ $NHDT-Date: 1573063606 2019/11/06 18:06:46 $
+$NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.6 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.162 $ $NHDT-Date: 1573066356 2019/11/06 18:52:36 $
 
 This fixes36.3 file is here to capture information about updates in the 3.6.x
 lineage following the release of 3.6.2 in May 2019. Please note, however,
@@ -269,6 +269,7 @@ EDIT_GETLIN: using 'O' to set message types or menu colors was overloading the
 	during repeat prompting
 EDIT_GETLIN: for paranoid confirmation, if answer was neither "yes" nor "no",
 	don't supply the rejected answer as the default when retrying
+USE_FCNTL: nethack wasn't closing lock file 'perm'
 curses: very tall menus tried to use selector characters a-z, A-Z, and 0-9,
 	but 0-9 should be reserved for counts and if the display was tall
 	enough for more than 62 entries, arbitrary ASCII punctuation got used
diff --git a/src/files.c b/src/files.c
index f89e5e061..c8bdb8ce1 100644
--- a/src/files.c
+++ b/src/files.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* NetHack 3.6	files.c	$NHDT-Date: 1571347976 2019/10/17 21:32:56 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.6 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.254 $ */
+/* NetHack 3.6	files.c	$NHDT-Date: 1573066357 2019/11/06 18:52:37 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.6 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.260 $ */
 /* Copyright (c) Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1985. */
 /*-Copyright (c) Derek S. Ray, 2015. */
 /* NetHack may be freely redistributed.  See license for details. */
@@ -1644,7 +1644,7 @@ boolean uncomp;
 static int nesting = 0;
 
 #if defined(NO_FILE_LINKS) || defined(USE_FCNTL) /* implies UNIX */
-static int lockfd; /* for lock_file() to pass to unlock_file() */
+static int lockfd = -1; /* for lock_file() to pass to unlock_file() */
 #endif
 #ifdef USE_FCNTL
 struct flock sflock; /* for unlocking, same as above */
@@ -1756,7 +1756,7 @@ int retryct;
             return FALSE;
         }
 #else
-        register int errnosv = errno;
+        int errnosv = errno;
 
         switch (errnosv) { /* George Barbanis */
         case EEXIST:
@@ -1867,9 +1867,10 @@ const char *filename;
     if (nesting == 1) {
 #ifdef USE_FCNTL
         sflock.l_type = F_UNLCK;
-        if (fcntl(lockfd, F_SETLK, &sflock) == -1) {
-            HUP raw_printf("Can't remove fcntl lock on %s.", filename);
-            (void) close(lockfd);
+        if (lockfd >= 0) {
+            if (fcntl(lockfd, F_SETLK, &sflock) == -1)
+                HUP raw_printf("Can't remove fcntl lock on %s.", filename);
+            (void) close(lockfd), lockfd = -1;
         }
 #else
         lockname = make_lockname(filename, locknambuf);
@@ -1881,7 +1882,7 @@ const char *filename;
         if (unlink(lockname) < 0)
             HUP raw_printf("Can't unlink %s.", lockname);
 #ifdef NO_FILE_LINKS
-        (void) nhclose(lockfd);
+        (void) nhclose(lockfd), lockfd = -1;
 #endif
 
 #endif /* UNIX || VMS */