diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 04d0fd1fe6..17fdb16dd8 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -910,6 +910,7 @@ LIB_OBJS += combine-diff.o
 LIB_OBJS += commit-graph.o
 LIB_OBJS += commit-reach.o
 LIB_OBJS += commit.o
+LIB_OBJS += compat/nonblock.o
 LIB_OBJS += compat/obstack.o
 LIB_OBJS += compat/terminal.o
 LIB_OBJS += compat/zlib-uncompress2.o
diff --git a/compat/nonblock.c b/compat/nonblock.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b08105a21d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compat/nonblock.c
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#include "git-compat-util.h"
+#include "nonblock.h"
+
+#ifdef O_NONBLOCK
+
+int enable_pipe_nonblock(int fd)
+{
+	int flags = fcntl(fd, F_GETFL);
+	if (flags < 0)
+		return -1;
+	flags |= O_NONBLOCK;
+	return fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, flags);
+}
+
+#else
+
+int enable_pipe_nonblock(int fd)
+{
+	errno = ENOSYS;
+	return -1;
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/compat/nonblock.h b/compat/nonblock.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..af1a331301
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compat/nonblock.h
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#ifndef COMPAT_NONBLOCK_H
+#define COMPAT_NONBLOCK_H
+
+/*
+ * Enable non-blocking I/O for the pipe specified by the passed-in descriptor.
+ */
+int enable_pipe_nonblock(int fd);
+
+#endif