diff --git a/unix.c b/unix.c
index 9ae5742..0ab2a2d 100644
--- a/unix.c
+++ b/unix.c
@@ -103,6 +103,18 @@ extern long Spending_interruptsS;
 
 /* Signal handlers */
 
+/* Note that we turn off SIGPIPE interrupts in a funny way -- we don't
+** set the handler to SIGIGN, we set it to a no-op function. This is so
+** that when we exec() some other program, the handler will be reset to
+** its default, rather than to SIGIGN.
+**
+** We don't use SIGPIPE, because all write() calls in scsh correctly check
+** for error returns, and raise an error exception. Sleazy Unix C programs,
+** however, need to get shot down when writing to a closed pipe or socket.
+**     -Olin 4/97
+*/
+
+
 static RETSIGTYPE
 when_keyboard_interrupt(sig, code, scp)
      int sig, code;
@@ -124,6 +136,14 @@ when_alarm_interrupt(sig, code, scp)
   return;
 }
 
+static RETSIGTYPE
+when_pipe_interrupt(sig, code, scp)
+     int sig, code;
+     struct sigcontext *scp;
+{
+  return;
+}
+
 
 /* OS-dependent initialization */
 
@@ -145,7 +165,7 @@ sysdep_init()
 
   /* SIGPIPE's are bogus. -Olin */
   {struct sigaction sa;
-   sa.sa_handler = SIG_IGN;
+   sa.sa_handler = when_pipe_interrupt;
    sigemptyset(&sa.sa_mask);
    sa.sa_flags = 0;
    sigaction(SIGPIPE, &sa, NULL);