diff --git a/llkd/README.md b/llkd/README.md
index 7cc7e1f..43bb94a 100644
--- a/llkd/README.md
+++ b/llkd/README.md
@@ -86,7 +86,13 @@
 Android Properties
 ------------------
 
-Android Properties llkd respond to (*prop*_ms parms are in milliseconds):
+The following are the Android Properties llkd respond to.
+*prop*_ms named properties are in milliseconds.
+Properties that use comma (*,*) separator for lists, use a leading separator to
+preserve default and add or subtract entries with (*optional*) plus (*+*) and
+minus (*-*) prefixes respectively.
+For these lists, the string "*false*" is synonymous with an *empty* list,
+and *blank* or *missing* resorts to the specified *default* value.
 
 #### ro.config.low_ram
 device is configured with limited memory.
@@ -137,7 +143,6 @@
 #### ro.llk.stack
 default cma_alloc,__get_user_pages,bit_wait_io,wait_on_page_bit_killable
 comma separated list of kernel symbols.
-The string "*false*" is the equivalent to an *empty* list.
 Look for kernel stack symbols that if ever persistently present can
 indicate a subsystem is locked up.
 Beware, check does not on purpose do forward scheduling ABA except by polling
@@ -154,7 +159,6 @@
 default 0,1,2 (kernel, init and [kthreadd]) plus process names
 init,[kthreadd],[khungtaskd],lmkd,llkd,watchdogd,
 [watchdogd],[watchdogd/0],...,[watchdogd/***get_nprocs**-1*].
-The string "*false*" is the equivalent to an *empty* list.
 Do not watch these processes.  A process can be comm, cmdline or pid reference.
 NB: automated default here can be larger than the current maximum property
 size of 92.
@@ -162,18 +166,15 @@
 
 #### ro.llk.blacklist.parent
 default 0,2,adbd (kernel, [kthreadd] and adbd).
-The string "*false*" is the equivalent to an *empty* list.
 Do not watch processes that have this parent.
 A parent process can be comm, cmdline or pid reference.
 
 #### ro.llk.blacklist.uid
 default *empty* or false, comma separated list of uid numbers or names.
-The string "*false*" is the equivalent to an *empty* list.
 Do not watch processes that match this uid.
 
 #### ro.llk.blacklist.process.stack
 default process names init,lmkd.llkd,llkd,keystore,ueventd,apexd,logd.
-The string "*false*" is the equivalent to an *empty* list.
 This subset of processes are not monitored for live lock stack signatures.
 Also prevents the sepolicy violation associated with processes that block
 ptrace, as these can not be checked anyways.
diff --git a/llkd/libllkd.cpp b/llkd/libllkd.cpp
index 7f47fc9..3a593ec 100644
--- a/llkd/libllkd.cpp
+++ b/llkd/libllkd.cpp
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <pwd.h>  // getpwuid()
 #include <signal.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
+#include <string.h>
 #include <sys/cdefs.h>  // ___STRING, __predict_true() and _predict_false()
 #include <sys/mman.h>   // mlockall()
 #include <sys/prctl.h>
@@ -617,17 +618,24 @@
 std::string llkFormat(const std::unordered_set<std::string>& blacklist) {
     std::string ret;
     for (const auto& entry : blacklist) {
-        if (ret.size()) {
-            ret += ",";
-        }
+        if (!ret.empty()) ret += ",";
         ret += entry;
     }
     return ret;
 }
 
+// This function parses the properties as a list, incorporating the supplied
+// default.  A leading comma separator means preserve the defaults and add
+// entries (with an optional leading + sign), or removes entries with a leading
+// - sign.
+//
 // We only officially support comma separators, but wetware being what they
 // are will take some liberty and I do not believe they should be punished.
-std::unordered_set<std::string> llkSplit(const std::string& s) {
+std::unordered_set<std::string> llkSplit(const std::string& prop, const std::string& def) {
+    auto s = android::base::GetProperty(prop, def);
+    constexpr char separators[] = ", \t:;";
+    if (!s.empty() && (s != def) && strchr(separators, s[0])) s = def + s;
+
     std::unordered_set<std::string> result;
 
     // Special case, allow boolean false to empty the list, otherwise expected
@@ -637,9 +645,29 @@
 
     size_t base = 0;
     while (s.size() > base) {
-        auto found = s.find_first_of(", \t:", base);
-        // Only emplace content, empty entries are not an option
-        if (found != base) result.emplace(s.substr(base, found - base));
+        auto found = s.find_first_of(separators, base);
+        // Only emplace unique content, empty entries are not an option
+        if (found != base) {
+            switch (s[base]) {
+                case '-':
+                    ++base;
+                    if (base >= s.size()) break;
+                    if (base != found) {
+                        auto have = result.find(s.substr(base, found - base));
+                        if (have != result.end()) result.erase(have);
+                    }
+                    break;
+                case '+':
+                    ++base;
+                    if (base >= s.size()) break;
+                    if (base == found) break;
+                    // FALLTHRU (for gcc, lint, pcc, etc; following for clang)
+                    FALLTHROUGH_INTENDED;
+                default:
+                    result.emplace(s.substr(base, found - base));
+                    break;
+            }
+        }
         if (found == s.npos) break;
         base = found + 1;
     }
@@ -648,13 +676,21 @@
 
 bool llkSkipName(const std::string& name,
                  const std::unordered_set<std::string>& blacklist = llkBlacklistProcess) {
-    if ((name.size() == 0) || (blacklist.size() == 0)) {
-        return false;
-    }
+    if (name.empty() || blacklist.empty()) return false;
 
     return blacklist.find(name) != blacklist.end();
 }
 
+bool llkSkipProc(proc* procp,
+                 const std::unordered_set<std::string>& blacklist = llkBlacklistProcess) {
+    if (!procp) return false;
+    if (llkSkipName(std::to_string(procp->pid), blacklist)) return true;
+    if (llkSkipName(procp->getComm(), blacklist)) return true;
+    if (llkSkipName(procp->getCmdline(), blacklist)) return true;
+    if (llkSkipName(android::base::Basename(procp->getCmdline()), blacklist)) return true;
+    return false;
+}
+
 bool llkSkipPid(pid_t pid) {
     return llkSkipName(std::to_string(pid), llkBlacklistProcess);
 }
@@ -730,11 +766,7 @@
     }
 
     // Don't check process that are known to block ptrace, save sepolicy noise.
-    if (llkSkipName(std::to_string(procp->pid), llkBlacklistStack)) return false;
-    if (llkSkipName(procp->getComm(), llkBlacklistStack)) return false;
-    if (llkSkipName(procp->getCmdline(), llkBlacklistStack)) return false;
-    if (llkSkipName(android::base::Basename(procp->getCmdline()), llkBlacklistStack)) return false;
-
+    if (llkSkipProc(procp, llkBlacklistStack)) return false;
     auto kernel_stack = ReadFile(piddir + "/stack");
     if (kernel_stack.empty()) {
         LOG(VERBOSE) << piddir << "/stack empty comm=" << procp->getComm()
@@ -780,12 +812,12 @@
     // but if there are problems we assume at least a few
     // samples of reads occur before we take any real action.
     std::string schedString = ReadFile(piddir + "/sched");
-    if (schedString.size() == 0) {
+    if (schedString.empty()) {
         // /schedstat is not as standardized, but in 3.1+
         // Android devices, the third field is nr_switches
         // from /sched:
         schedString = ReadFile(piddir + "/schedstat");
-        if (schedString.size() == 0) {
+        if (schedString.empty()) {
             return;
         }
         auto val = static_cast<unsigned long long>(-1);
@@ -943,7 +975,7 @@
 
             // Get the process stat
             std::string stat = ReadFile(piddir + "/stat");
-            if (stat.size() == 0) {
+            if (stat.empty()) {
                 continue;
             }
             unsigned tid = -1;
@@ -1032,11 +1064,10 @@
             if (pprocp == nullptr) {
                 pprocp = llkTidAlloc(ppid, ppid, 0, "", 0, '?');
             }
-            if ((pprocp != nullptr) &&
-                (llkSkipName(pprocp->getComm(), llkBlacklistParent) ||
-                 llkSkipName(pprocp->getCmdline(), llkBlacklistParent) ||
-                 llkSkipName(android::base::Basename(pprocp->getCmdline()), llkBlacklistParent))) {
-                break;
+            if (pprocp) {
+                if (llkSkipProc(pprocp, llkBlacklistParent)) break;
+            } else {
+                if (llkSkipName(std::to_string(ppid), llkBlacklistParent)) break;
             }
 
             if ((llkBlacklistUid.size() != 0) && llkSkipUid(procp->getUid())) {
@@ -1135,21 +1166,15 @@
         if (!p->second.updated) {
             IF_ALOG(LOG_VERBOSE, LOG_TAG) {
                 std::string ppidCmdline = llkProcGetName(p->second.ppid, nullptr, nullptr);
-                if (ppidCmdline.size()) {
-                    ppidCmdline = "(" + ppidCmdline + ")";
-                }
+                if (!ppidCmdline.empty()) ppidCmdline = "(" + ppidCmdline + ")";
                 std::string pidCmdline;
                 if (p->second.pid != p->second.tid) {
                     pidCmdline = llkProcGetName(p->second.pid, nullptr, p->second.getCmdline());
-                    if (pidCmdline.size()) {
-                        pidCmdline = "(" + pidCmdline + ")";
-                    }
+                    if (!pidCmdline.empty()) pidCmdline = "(" + pidCmdline + ")";
                 }
                 std::string tidCmdline =
                     llkProcGetName(p->second.tid, p->second.getComm(), p->second.getCmdline());
-                if (tidCmdline.size()) {
-                    tidCmdline = "(" + tidCmdline + ")";
-                }
+                if (!tidCmdline.empty()) tidCmdline = "(" + tidCmdline + ")";
                 LOG(VERBOSE) << "thread " << p->second.ppid << ppidCmdline << "->" << p->second.pid
                              << pidCmdline << "->" << p->second.tid << tidCmdline << " removed";
             }
@@ -1226,13 +1251,11 @@
     llkValidate();  // validate all (effectively minus llkTimeoutMs)
 #ifdef __PTRACE_ENABLED__
     if (debuggable) {
-        llkCheckStackSymbols = llkSplit(
-                android::base::GetProperty(LLK_CHECK_STACK_PROPERTY, LLK_CHECK_STACK_DEFAULT));
+        llkCheckStackSymbols = llkSplit(LLK_CHECK_STACK_PROPERTY, LLK_CHECK_STACK_DEFAULT);
     }
     std::string defaultBlacklistStack(LLK_BLACKLIST_STACK_DEFAULT);
     if (!debuggable) defaultBlacklistStack += ",logd,/system/bin/logd";
-    llkBlacklistStack = llkSplit(
-            android::base::GetProperty(LLK_BLACKLIST_STACK_PROPERTY, defaultBlacklistStack));
+    llkBlacklistStack = llkSplit(LLK_BLACKLIST_STACK_PROPERTY, defaultBlacklistStack);
 #endif
     std::string defaultBlacklistProcess(
         std::to_string(kernelPid) + "," + std::to_string(initPid) + "," +
@@ -1244,17 +1267,14 @@
     for (int cpu = 1; cpu < get_nprocs_conf(); ++cpu) {
         defaultBlacklistProcess += ",[watchdog/" + std::to_string(cpu) + "]";
     }
-    defaultBlacklistProcess =
-        android::base::GetProperty(LLK_BLACKLIST_PROCESS_PROPERTY, defaultBlacklistProcess);
-    llkBlacklistProcess = llkSplit(defaultBlacklistProcess);
+    llkBlacklistProcess = llkSplit(LLK_BLACKLIST_PROCESS_PROPERTY, defaultBlacklistProcess);
     if (!llkSkipName("[khungtaskd]")) {  // ALWAYS ignore as special
         llkBlacklistProcess.emplace("[khungtaskd]");
     }
-    llkBlacklistParent = llkSplit(android::base::GetProperty(
-        LLK_BLACKLIST_PARENT_PROPERTY, std::to_string(kernelPid) + "," + std::to_string(kthreaddPid) +
-                                           "," LLK_BLACKLIST_PARENT_DEFAULT));
-    llkBlacklistUid =
-        llkSplit(android::base::GetProperty(LLK_BLACKLIST_UID_PROPERTY, LLK_BLACKLIST_UID_DEFAULT));
+    llkBlacklistParent = llkSplit(LLK_BLACKLIST_PARENT_PROPERTY,
+                                  std::to_string(kernelPid) + "," + std::to_string(kthreaddPid) +
+                                          "," LLK_BLACKLIST_PARENT_DEFAULT);
+    llkBlacklistUid = llkSplit(LLK_BLACKLIST_UID_PROPERTY, LLK_BLACKLIST_UID_DEFAULT);
 
     // internal watchdog
     ::signal(SIGALRM, llkAlarmHandler);
diff --git a/llkd/tests/llkd_test.cpp b/llkd/tests/llkd_test.cpp
index f54932b..d738935 100644
--- a/llkd/tests/llkd_test.cpp
+++ b/llkd/tests/llkd_test.cpp
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@
         execute("stop llkd-1");
         rest();
         std::string setprop("setprop ");
-        execute((setprop + LLK_CHECK_STACK_PROPERTY + " SyS_openat").c_str());
+        // Manually check that SyS_openat is _added_ to the list when restarted
+        execute((setprop + LLK_CHECK_STACK_PROPERTY + " ,SyS_openat").c_str());
         rest();
         execute((setprop + LLK_ENABLE_WRITEABLE_PROPERTY + " false").c_str());
         rest();