diff --git a/src/unix/internal.h b/src/unix/internal.h
index 8a28b2aa09..23f16f7b0e 100644
--- a/src/unix/internal.h
+++ b/src/unix/internal.h
@@ -168,8 +168,12 @@ void uv__timer_close(uv_timer_t* handle);
 void uv__udp_close(uv_udp_t* handle);
 void uv__udp_finish_close(uv_udp_t* handle);
 
-#define UV__F_IPC        (1 << 0)
-#define UV__F_NONBLOCK   (1 << 1)
+#ifdef UV__O_NONBLOCK
+# define UV__F_NONBLOCK UV__O_NONBLOCK
+#else
+# define UV__F_NONBLOCK 1
+#endif
+
 int uv__make_socketpair(int fds[2], int flags);
 int uv__make_pipe(int fds[2], int flags);
 
diff --git a/src/unix/process.c b/src/unix/process.c
index d3eb998c1b..230afe991f 100644
--- a/src/unix/process.c
+++ b/src/unix/process.c
@@ -68,25 +68,15 @@ static void uv__chld(EV_P_ ev_child* watcher, int revents) {
 
 
 int uv__make_socketpair(int fds[2], int flags) {
-#ifdef SOCK_NONBLOCK
-  int fl;
-
-  fl = SOCK_CLOEXEC;
-
-  if (flags & UV__F_NONBLOCK)
-    fl |= SOCK_NONBLOCK;
-
-  if (socketpair(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM|fl, 0, fds) == 0)
+#if __linux__
+  if (socketpair(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM | UV__SOCK_CLOEXEC | flags, 0, fds) == 0)
     return 0;
 
+  /* Retry on EINVAL, it means SOCK_CLOEXEC is not supported.
+   * Anything else is a genuine error.
+   */
   if (errno != EINVAL)
     return -1;
-
-  /* errno == EINVAL so maybe the kernel headers lied about
-   * the availability of SOCK_NONBLOCK. This can happen if people
-   * build libuv against newer kernel headers than the kernel
-   * they actually run the software on.
-   */
 #endif
 
   if (socketpair(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0, fds))
@@ -106,14 +96,7 @@ int uv__make_socketpair(int fds[2], int flags) {
 
 int uv__make_pipe(int fds[2], int flags) {
 #if __linux__
-  int fl;
-
-  fl = UV__O_CLOEXEC;
-
-  if (flags & UV__F_NONBLOCK)
-    fl |= UV__O_NONBLOCK;
-
-  if (uv__pipe2(fds, fl) == 0)
+  if (uv__pipe2(fds, flags | UV__O_CLOEXEC) == 0)
     return 0;
 
   if (errno != ENOSYS)