diff --git a/base/exports.jl b/base/exports.jl
index 285134b6e5ac4..d190e4bdd2c36 100644
--- a/base/exports.jl
+++ b/base/exports.jl
@@ -1147,6 +1147,7 @@ export
     ntoh,
     open,
     pipe,
+    Pipe,
     PipeBuffer,
     poll_fd,
     poll_file,
diff --git a/base/process.jl b/base/process.jl
index dfe7e34bd7d03..af03f409eca24 100644
--- a/base/process.jl
+++ b/base/process.jl
@@ -311,7 +311,9 @@ macro setup_stdio()
         in,out,err = stdios
         if isa(stdios[1], Pipe)
             if stdios[1].handle == C_NULL
-                error("pipes passed to spawn must be initialized")
+                in = box(Ptr{Void},Intrinsics.jl_alloca(_sizeof_uv_named_pipe))
+                link_pipe(in,false,stdios[1],true)
+                close_in = true
             end
         elseif isa(stdios[1], FileRedirect)
             in = FS.open(stdios[1].filename, JL_O_RDONLY)
@@ -321,7 +323,9 @@ macro setup_stdio()
         end
         if isa(stdios[2], Pipe)
             if stdios[2].handle == C_NULL
-                error("pipes passed to spawn must be initialized")
+                out = box(Ptr{Void},Intrinsics.jl_alloca(_sizeof_uv_named_pipe))
+                link_pipe(stdios[2],true,out,false)
+                close_out = true
             end
         elseif isa(stdios[2], FileRedirect)
             out = FS.open(stdios[2].filename, JL_O_WRONLY | JL_O_CREAT | (stdios[2].append?JL_O_APPEND:JL_O_TRUNC), S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IROTH)
@@ -331,7 +335,9 @@ macro setup_stdio()
         end
         if isa(stdios[3], Pipe)
             if stdios[3].handle == C_NULL
-                error("pipes passed to spawn must be initialized")
+                err = box(Ptr{Void},Intrinsics.jl_alloca(_sizeof_uv_named_pipe))
+                link_pipe(stdios[3],true,err,false)
+                close_err = true
             end
         elseif isa(stdios[3], FileRedirect)
             err = FS.open(stdios[3].filename, JL_O_WRONLY | JL_O_CREAT | (stdios[3].append?JL_O_APPEND:JL_O_TRUNC), S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IROTH)
@@ -345,9 +351,9 @@ end
 macro cleanup_stdio()
     esc(
     quote
-        close_in && close(in)
-        close_out && close(out)
-        close_err && close(err)
+        close_in && (isa(in,Ptr) ? close_pipe_sync(in) : close(in))
+        close_out && (isa(out,Ptr) ? close_pipe_sync(out) : close(out))
+        close_err && (isa(err,Ptr) ? close_pipe_sync(err) : close(err))
     end)
 end
 
diff --git a/base/socket.jl b/base/socket.jl
index ec9e31d0d99cb..b8e5bfd578839 100644
--- a/base/socket.jl
+++ b/base/socket.jl
@@ -349,7 +349,12 @@ _jl_sockaddr_set_port(ptr::Ptr{Void},port::UInt16) =
     ccall(:jl_sockaddr_set_port,Void,(Ptr{Void},UInt16),ptr,port)
 
 accept(server::TCPServer) = accept(server, TCPSocket())
-accept(server::PipeServer) = accept(server, Pipe())
+
+# Libuv will internally reset the readable and writable flags on
+# this pipe after it has successfully accepted the connection, to
+# remember that before that this is an invalid pipe
+accept(server::PipeServer) = accept(server, init_pipe!(Pipe();
+    readable=false, writable=false, julia_only=true))
 
 ##
 
diff --git a/base/stream.jl b/base/stream.jl
index 261863c9dbe2f..3d50336f6ad50 100644
--- a/base/stream.jl
+++ b/base/stream.jl
@@ -127,18 +127,7 @@ type Pipe <: AsyncStream
         nothing, ReentrantLock(),
         DEFAULT_READ_BUFFER_SZ)
 end
-function Pipe()
-    handle = Libc.malloc(_sizeof_uv_named_pipe)
-    try
-        ret = Pipe(handle)
-        associate_julia_struct(ret.handle,ret)
-        finalizer(ret,uvfinalize)
-        return init_pipe!(ret;readable=true)
-    catch
-        Libc.free(handle)
-        rethrow()
-    end
-end
+Pipe() = Pipe(C_NULL)
 
 type PipeServer <: UVServer
     handle::Ptr{Void}
@@ -156,8 +145,9 @@ end
 
 function init_pipe!(pipe::Union{Pipe,PipeServer};readable::Bool=false,writable=false,julia_only=true)
     if pipe.handle == C_NULL
-        error("failed to initialize pipe")
-    elseif pipe.status != StatusUninit
+        malloc_julia_pipe!(pipe)
+    end
+    if pipe.status != StatusUninit
         error("pipe is already initialized")
     end
     uv_error("init_pipe",ccall(:jl_init_pipe, Cint, (Ptr{Void},Int32,Int32,Int32), pipe.handle, writable,readable,julia_only))
@@ -643,7 +633,7 @@ function process_events(block::Bool)
 end
 
 ## pipe functions ##
-function malloc_julia_pipe(x)
+function malloc_julia_pipe!(x)
     x.handle = Libc.malloc(_sizeof_uv_named_pipe)
     associate_julia_struct(x.handle,x)
     finalizer(x,uvfinalize)
@@ -667,7 +657,7 @@ end
 
 function link_pipe(read_end::Pipe,readable_julia_only::Bool,write_end::Ptr{Void},writable_julia_only::Bool)
     if read_end.handle == C_NULL
-        malloc_julia_pipe(read_end)
+        malloc_julia_pipe!(read_end)
     end
     init_pipe!(read_end; readable = true, writable = false, julia_only = readable_julia_only)
     uv_error("init_pipe",ccall(:jl_init_pipe, Cint, (Ptr{Void},Int32,Int32,Int32), write_end, 1, 0, writable_julia_only))
@@ -676,7 +666,7 @@ function link_pipe(read_end::Pipe,readable_julia_only::Bool,write_end::Ptr{Void}
 end
 function link_pipe(read_end::Ptr{Void},readable_julia_only::Bool,write_end::Pipe,writable_julia_only::Bool)
     if write_end.handle == C_NULL
-        malloc_julia_pipe(write_end)
+        malloc_julia_pipe!(write_end)
     end
     uv_error("init_pipe",ccall(:jl_init_pipe, Cint, (Ptr{Void},Int32,Int32,Int32), read_end, 0, 1, readable_julia_only))
     init_pipe!(write_end; readable = false, writable = true, julia_only = writable_julia_only)
@@ -685,10 +675,10 @@ function link_pipe(read_end::Ptr{Void},readable_julia_only::Bool,write_end::Pipe
 end
 function link_pipe(read_end::Pipe,readable_julia_only::Bool,write_end::Pipe,writable_julia_only::Bool)
     if write_end.handle == C_NULL
-        malloc_julia_pipe(write_end)
+        malloc_julia_pipe!(write_end)
     end
     if read_end.handle == C_NULL
-        malloc_julia_pipe(read_end)
+        malloc_julia_pipe!(read_end)
     end
     init_pipe!(read_end; readable = true, writable = false, julia_only = readable_julia_only)
     init_pipe!(write_end; readable = false, writable = true, julia_only = writable_julia_only)
@@ -952,7 +942,7 @@ function accept_nonblock(server::PipeServer,client::Pipe)
     err
 end
 function accept_nonblock(server::PipeServer)
-    client = Pipe()
+    client = init_pipe!(Pipe(); readable=true, writable=true, julia_only=true)
     uv_error("accept", accept_nonblock(server,client) != 0)
     client
 end
@@ -1022,7 +1012,9 @@ function connect(sock::AsyncStream, args...)
     sock
 end
 
-connect(path::AbstractString) = connect(Pipe(),path)
+# Libuv will internally reset read/writability, which is uses to
+# mark that this is an invalid pipe.
+connect(path::AbstractString) = connect(init_pipe!(Pipe(); readable=false, writable=false, julia_only=true),path)
 
 _fd(x::IOStream) = RawFD(fd(x))
 @unix_only _fd(x::AsyncStream) = RawFD(ccall(:jl_uv_handle,Int32,(Ptr{Void},),x.handle))
diff --git a/test/spawn.jl b/test/spawn.jl
index c0c3863682672..99fef922149e2 100644
--- a/test/spawn.jl
+++ b/test/spawn.jl
@@ -174,6 +174,9 @@ if valgrind_off
     # If --trace-children=yes is passed to valgrind, we will get a
     # valgrind banner here, not "Hello World\n".
     @test readall(pipe(`$exename -f -e 'println(STDERR,"Hello World")'`, stderr=`cat`)) == "Hello World\n"
+    p = Pipe()
+    run(pipe(`$exename -f -e 'println(STDERR,"Hello World")'`, stderr = p))
+    @test readall(p) == "Hello World\n"
 end
 
 # issue #6310