Index: Modules/posixmodule.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/posixmodule.c	(revision 67927)
+++ Modules/posixmodule.c	(working copy)
@@ -6496,8 +6496,13 @@
 	HANDLE read, write;
 	int read_fd, write_fd;
 	BOOL ok;
+	SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES saAttr;
+
+	saAttr.nLength = sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
+	saAttr.bInheritHandle = TRUE;
+	saAttr.lpSecurityDescriptor = NULL;
 	Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
-	ok = CreatePipe(&read, &write, NULL, 0);
+	ok = CreatePipe(&read, &write, &saAttr, 0);
 	Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
 	if (!ok)
 		return win32_error("CreatePipe", NULL);
Index: Lib/test/test_os.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_os.py	(revision 67927)
+++ Lib/test/test_os.py	(working copy)
@@ -511,6 +511,36 @@
         except NotImplementedError:
             pass
 
+# this function runs in a subprocess
+def child_test_pipe(r):
+    if sys.platform == 'win32':
+        import msvcrt
+        r = msvcrt.open_osfhandle(r, 0)
+    if os.read(r, 5)=='abcde':
+        sys.exit(0)
+    else:
+        sys.exit(10)
+
+class PipeTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_pipe(self):
+        self.r, self.w = r, w = os.pipe()
+        os.write(w, 'abcde')
+        os.close(w)
+        if sys.platform == 'win32':
+            import msvcrt
+            r = msvcrt.get_osfhandle(r)
+        thisdir, thisfile = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+        thismodule = os.path.splitext(thisfile)[0]
+        import subprocess
+        ret = subprocess.call([
+                sys.executable, 
+                "-c",
+                "from %s import child_test_pipe;child_test_pipe(%d)" % (thismodule, r),
+                ], 
+                cwd=thisdir)
+        os.close(self.r)
+        self.assertEqual(ret, 0)
+
 class Win32ErrorTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_rename(self):
         self.assertRaises(WindowsError, os.rename, test_support.TESTFN, test_support.TESTFN+".bak")
@@ -547,6 +577,7 @@
         MakedirTests,
         DevNullTests,
         URandomTests,
+        PipeTests,
         Win32ErrorTests
     )
 
Index: Doc/library/os.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/os.rst	(revision 67927)
+++ Doc/library/os.rst	(working copy)
@@ -631,7 +631,10 @@
 .. function:: pipe()
 
    Create a pipe.  Return a pair of file descriptors ``(r, w)`` usable for reading
-   and writing, respectively. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+   and writing, respectively. On Unix, subprocesses inherit those file descriptors;
+   on Windows, their associated file handles are inheritable.  (To convert file
+   descriptors into file handles and viceversa, use the msvcrt module.)
+   Availability: Unix, Windows.
 
 
 .. function:: read(fd, n)