diff --git a/libretroshare/src/pqi/p3cfgmgr.cc b/libretroshare/src/pqi/p3cfgmgr.cc
index bde9f629a..6985f1a8c 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/pqi/p3cfgmgr.cc
+++ b/libretroshare/src/pqi/p3cfgmgr.cc
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ void	p3ConfigMgr::loadConfiguration()
 	membio->fseek(0); /* go to start */
 	RsSerialiser *rss = new RsSerialiser();
 	rss->addSerialType(new RsGeneralConfigSerialiser());
-	pqistore stream(rss, "CONFIG", membio, 0);
+	pqistore stream(rss, "CONFIG", membio, BIN_FLAGS_READABLE);
 
 	RsItem *rsitem = stream.GetItem();
 
diff --git a/libretroshare/src/services/p3distrib.cc b/libretroshare/src/services/p3distrib.cc
index 94bca34d6..6f6da5b81 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/services/p3distrib.cc
+++ b/libretroshare/src/services/p3distrib.cc
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ void	p3GroupDistrib::loadFileGroups(std::string filename, std::string src, bool
 
 	/* create the serialiser to load info */
 	BinInterface *bio = new BinFileInterface(filename.c_str(), BIN_FLAGS_READABLE);
-	pqistore *store = createStore(bio, src, 0);
+	pqistore *store = createStore(bio, src, BIN_FLAGS_READABLE);
 
 	std::cerr << "loading file " << filename << std::endl ;
 
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ void	p3GroupDistrib::loadFileMsgs(std::string filename, uint16_t cacheSubId, std
 
 	/* create the serialiser to load msgs */
 	BinInterface *bio = new BinFileInterface(filename.c_str(), BIN_FLAGS_READABLE);
-	pqistore *store = createStore(bio, src, 0);
+	pqistore *store = createStore(bio, src, BIN_FLAGS_READABLE);
 
 	std::cerr << "loading file " << filename << std::endl ;
 
@@ -745,7 +745,7 @@ void 	p3GroupDistrib::locked_publishPendingMsgs()
 	std::string filenametmp = path + "/" + tmpname + ".tmp";
 
 	BinInterface *bio = new BinFileInterface(filenametmp.c_str(), BIN_FLAGS_WRITEABLE | BIN_FLAGS_HASH_DATA);
-	pqistore *store = createStore(bio, mOwnId, 0); /* messages are deleted! */ 
+	pqistore *store = createStore(bio, mOwnId, BIN_FLAGS_WRITEABLE); /* messages are deleted! */ 
 
 	bool resave = false;
 	std::list<RsDistribSignedMsg *>::iterator it;
@@ -835,7 +835,7 @@ void 	p3GroupDistrib::publishDistribGroups()
 	std::string filenametmp = path + "/" + tmpname + ".tmp";
 
 	BinInterface *bio = new BinFileInterface(filenametmp.c_str(), BIN_FLAGS_WRITEABLE | BIN_FLAGS_HASH_DATA);
-	pqistore *store = createStore(bio, mOwnId, BIN_FLAGS_NO_DELETE);
+	pqistore *store = createStore(bio, mOwnId, BIN_FLAGS_NO_DELETE | BIN_FLAGS_WRITEABLE);
 
 	RsStackMutex stack(distribMtx); /****** STACK MUTEX LOCKED *******/
 
diff --git a/libretroshare/src/services/p3ranking.cc b/libretroshare/src/services/p3ranking.cc
index be7581be3..afd81c371 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/services/p3ranking.cc
+++ b/libretroshare/src/services/p3ranking.cc
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ void p3Ranking::loadRankFile(std::string filename, std::string src)
 	
 	uint32_t bioflags = BIN_FLAGS_HASH_DATA | BIN_FLAGS_READABLE;
 	BinInterface *bio = new BinFileInterface(filename.c_str(), bioflags);
-	pqistore *store = new pqistore(rsSerialiser, src, bio, 0);
+	pqistore *store = new pqistore(rsSerialiser, src, bio, BIN_FLAGS_READABLE);
 	
 	time_t now = time(NULL);
 	time_t min, max;
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ void p3Ranking::publishMsgs(bool own)
 	
 	uint32_t bioflags = BIN_FLAGS_HASH_DATA | BIN_FLAGS_WRITEABLE;
 	BinInterface *bio = new BinFileInterface(fname.c_str(), bioflags);
-	pqistore *store = new pqistore(rsSerialiser, mOwnId, bio, BIN_FLAGS_NO_DELETE);
+	pqistore *store = new pqistore(rsSerialiser, mOwnId, bio, BIN_FLAGS_NO_DELETE | BIN_FLAGS_WRITEABLE);
 	
      { 	RsStackMutex stack(mRankMtx); /********** STACK LOCKED MTX ******/
 
@@ -1099,8 +1099,7 @@ pqistore *createStore(std::string file, std::string src, bool reading)
 	/* bin flags: READ | WRITE | HASH_DATA */
 	BinInterface *bio = new BinFileInterface(file.c_str(), bioflags);
 	/* store flags: NO_DELETE (yes) | NO_CLOSE (no) */
-	pqistore *store = new pqistore(rsSerialiser, src, bio, 
-						BIN_FLAGS_NO_DELETE);
+	pqistore *store = new pqistore(rsSerialiser, src, bio, BIN_FLAGS_NO_DELETE | (bioflags & BIN_FLAGS_WRITEABLE));
 
 	return store;
 }