diff --git a/common.quota b/common.quota
index ba5d0afe..19206f0f 100644
--- a/common.quota
+++ b/common.quota
@@ -65,11 +65,13 @@ _file_as_id()
 	_notrun "broken type in call to _file_as_id in test $seq"
     fi
 
-    perl <<EOF
+    perl <<EOF >/dev/null 2>&1
 	\$| = 1;
 	$magik = $2;
-	exec "dd if=/dev/zero of=$1 bs=$4 count=$5 >>$seq.full 2>&1";
+	exec "dd if=/dev/zero of=$1 bs=$4 count=$5";
 EOF
+# for debugging the above euid change, try... [need write in cwd]
+#	exec "dd if=/dev/zero of=$1 bs=$4 count=$5 >>$seq.full 2>&1";
 }
 
 _choose_uid()