corrupted configuration files, again

I have seen this in 8.1, in 8.2 and now in 9.0. Some time after installation the files in /etc/sysconfig become corrupted - beginnings of the lines, that are not commented out just disappear, e.g.: /etc/sysconfig/windowmanager E="yes" (was SUSEWM_UPDATE) PM="yes" (was SUSEWM_XPM) COCA="initial" RSOR="" DEFAULT_WM="kde" /etc/sysconfig/sound ENCER="yes" _FILES="" LOAD_SEQUENCER="yes" (I have removed comments in this e-mail). Also displays Yast these corrupted names in sysconfig-editor. What's up with this? I'm quite sure I've done nothing with most of these files myself. ain