diff --git a/src/liblwevent/900_util.c b/src/liblwevent/900_util.c
index 997ea58..438ba48 100644
--- a/src/liblwevent/900_util.c
+++ b/src/liblwevent/900_util.c
@@ -26,6 +26,25 @@ int lwevent_nonblock(int fd)
 
 
 
+/* lwevent_cloexec()
+ *  Uses fcntl(2) to set FD_CLOEXEC for `fd'. No-op if it is already set. Does not affect any other
+ *  file status flags.
+ */
+int lwevent_cloexec(int fd)
+{
+    long flags;
+
+    flags = TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY( fcntl(fd, F_GETFD) );
+    if(flags == -1) return -1;
+
+    if(flags & FD_CLOEXEC) return 0;
+
+    flags |= FD_CLOEXEC;
+    return TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY( fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, flags) );
+}
+
+
+
 /* options for text editors
 kate: replace-trailing-space-save true; space-indent true; tab-width 4;
 vim: expandtab:ts=4:sw=4
diff --git a/src/liblwevent/900_util.h b/src/liblwevent/900_util.h
index bc380cd..1382405 100644
--- a/src/liblwevent/900_util.h
+++ b/src/liblwevent/900_util.h
@@ -30,6 +30,20 @@ int lwevent_nonblock(int fd) __attribute__((warn_unused_result));
 
 
 
+/*! \brief Set file descriptor to close on exec().
+
+\param fd File descriptor.
+\retval 0 on success.
+\retval -1 on error (and see \a errno).
+
+This function is provided to switch the file descriptor \a fd into close-on-exec mode using
+\c fcntl(2).
+
+*/
+int lwevent_cloexec(int fd) __attribute__((warn_unused_result));
+
+
+
 /*!@}*/
 /* options for text editors
 kate: replace-trailing-space-save true; space-indent true; tab-width 4;