diff -r ca54c27a9045 Lib/subprocess.py
--- a/Lib/subprocess.py	Tue Aug 21 14:54:22 2012 +0100
+++ b/Lib/subprocess.py	Tue Aug 21 11:44:58 2012 -0700
@@ -1445,9 +1445,15 @@
                     pid, sts = _waitpid(self.pid, _WNOHANG)
                     if pid == self.pid:
                         self._handle_exitstatus(sts)
-                except _os_error:
+                except _os_error as e:
                     if _deadstate is not None:
                         self.returncode = _deadstate
+                    elif e.errno == errno.ECHILD:
+                        # This happens if SIGCLD is set to be ignored or waiting
+                        # for child processes has otherwise been disabled for
+                        # our process. This child is dead, we can't get the
+                        # status.
+                        self.returncode = 0
             return self.returncode
 
 
diff -r ca54c27a9045 Lib/test/subprocessdata/sigchild_ignore.py
--- a/Lib/test/subprocessdata/sigchild_ignore.py	Tue Aug 21 14:54:22 2012 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/subprocessdata/sigchild_ignore.py	Tue Aug 21 11:44:58 2012 -0700
@@ -4,3 +4,8 @@
 # and causing us to exit with an error is what we are testing against.
 signal.signal(signal.SIGCHLD, signal.SIG_IGN)
 subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, '-c', 'print("albatross")']).wait()
+# Also ensure poll() handles the errno.ECHILD appropriately.
+p = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, '-c', 'print("albatross")'])
+while p.poll() is None:
+    # Waiting for the process to finish.
+    pass