diff -r b2d238adf802 Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst
--- a/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst	Wed Feb 18 08:56:47 2015 -0500
+++ b/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst	Wed Feb 18 14:14:16 2015 -0600
@@ -262,14 +262,6 @@
 Without using the lock output from the different processes is liable to get all
 mixed up.
 
-.. note::
-
-   Some of this package's functionality requires a functioning shared semaphore
-   implementation on the host operating system. Without one, the
-   :mod:`multiprocessing.synchronize` module will be disabled, and attempts to
-   import it will result in an :exc:`ImportError`. See
-   :issue:`3770` for additional information.
-
 
 Sharing state between processes
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -808,6 +800,14 @@
       immediately without waiting to flush enqueued data to the
       underlying pipe, and you don't care about lost data.
 
+   .. note::
+ 
+      This class's functionality requires a functioning shared semaphore
+      implementation on the host operating system. Without one, the
+      functionality in this class will be disabled, and attempts to
+      instantiate a :class:`Queue` will result in an :exc:`ImportError`. See
+      :issue:`3770` for additional information.  The same holds true for any
+      of the specialized queue types listed below.
 
 .. class:: SimpleQueue()
 
@@ -1183,6 +1183,14 @@
    This differs from the behaviour of :mod:`threading` where SIGINT will be
    ignored while the equivalent blocking calls are in progress.
 
+.. note::
+
+   Some of this package's functionality requires a functioning shared semaphore
+   implementation on the host operating system. Without one, the
+   :mod:`multiprocessing.synchronize` module will be disabled, and attempts to
+   import it will result in an :exc:`ImportError`. See
+   :issue:`3770` for additional information.
+
 
 Shared :mod:`ctypes` Objects
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff -r b2d238adf802 Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py
--- a/Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py	Wed Feb 18 08:56:47 2015 -0500
+++ b/Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py	Wed Feb 18 14:14:16 2015 -0600
@@ -35,7 +35,14 @@
 
     def __init__(self, maxsize=0, *, ctx):
         if maxsize <= 0:
-            maxsize = _multiprocessing.SemLock.SEM_VALUE_MAX
+            try:
+                maxsize = _multiprocessing.SemLock.SEM_VALUE_MAX
+            except (AttributeError):
+                raise ImportError("This platform lacks a functioning sem_open" +
+                      " implementation, therefore, the required" +
+                      " semaphore primitives needed will not" +
+                      " function, see issue 3770.")
+
         self._maxsize = maxsize
         self._reader, self._writer = connection.Pipe(duplex=False)
         self._rlock = ctx.Lock()