diff -r 10ecf8576eb2 Lib/test/test_signal.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_signal.py	Tue Jun 21 17:24:21 2011 +0200
+++ b/Lib/test/test_signal.py	Tue Jun 21 23:08:14 2011 +0200
@@ -337,23 +337,21 @@
             if interrupt is not None:
                 signal.siginterrupt(signal.SIGALRM, interrupt)
 
-            # run the test twice
-            for loop in range(2):
-                # send a SIGALRM in a second (during the read)
-                signal.alarm(1)
-                try:
-                    # blocking call: read from a pipe without data
-                    os.read(r, 1)
-                except OSError as err:
-                    if err.errno != errno.EINTR:
-                        raise
-                else:
-                    sys.exit(2)
+            # send a SIGALRM in a second (during the read)
+            signal.alarm(1)
+            try:
+                # blocking call: read from a pipe without data
+                os.read(r, 1)
+            except OSError as err:
+                if err.errno != errno.EINTR:
+                    raise
+            else:
+                sys.exit(2)
             sys.exit(3)
         """ % (interrupt,)
-        with spawn_python('-c', code) as process:
+        with spawn_python('-c', code, close_fds=False) as process:
             try:
-                stdout, stderr = process.communicate(timeout=3.0)
+                stdout, stderr = process.communicate(timeout=4.0)
             except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
                 process.kill()
                 return False