diff --git a/include/wx/unix/pipe.h b/include/wx/unix/pipe.h
index d1a058beca..3581008a6e 100644
--- a/include/wx/unix/pipe.h
+++ b/include/wx/unix/pipe.h
@@ -52,6 +52,16 @@ public:
         return true;
     }
 
+    // switch the given end of the pipe to non-blocking IO
+    bool MakeNonBlocking(Direction which)
+    {
+        const int flags = fcntl(m_fds[which], F_GETFL, 0);
+        if ( flags == -1 )
+            return false;
+
+        return fcntl(m_fds[which], F_SETFL, flags | O_NONBLOCK) == 0;
+    }
+
     // return TRUE if we were created successfully
     bool IsOk() const { return m_fds[Read] != INVALID_FD; }
 
diff --git a/src/unix/evtloopunix.cpp b/src/unix/evtloopunix.cpp
index 453f1c354a..b219d1b2dc 100644
--- a/src/unix/evtloopunix.cpp
+++ b/src/unix/evtloopunix.cpp
@@ -88,17 +88,14 @@ bool PipeIOHandler::Create()
         return false;
     }
 
-    const int fdRead = GetReadFd();
-
-    int flags = fcntl(fdRead, F_GETFL, 0);
-    if ( flags == -1 || fcntl(fdRead, F_SETFL, flags | O_NONBLOCK) == -1 )
+    if ( !m_pipe.MakeNonBlocking(wxPipe::Read) )
     {
         wxLogSysError(_("Failed to switch wake up pipe to non-blocking mode"));
         return false;
     }
 
     wxLogTrace(TRACE_EVENTS, wxT("Wake up pipe (%d, %d) created"),
-               fdRead, m_pipe[wxPipe::Write]);
+               m_pipe[wxPipe::Read], m_pipe[wxPipe::Write]);
 
     return true;
 }