diff --git a/src/bin/sccache-dist/main.rs b/src/bin/sccache-dist/main.rs
index eb85d3125d..8a19d3362c 100644
--- a/src/bin/sccache-dist/main.rs
+++ b/src/bin/sccache-dist/main.rs
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ fn run(command: Command) -> Result<i32> {
                 }
             };
 
-            daemonize()?;
+            daemonize(&[])?;
             let scheduler = Scheduler::new();
             let http_scheduler = dist::http::Scheduler::new(
                 public_addr,
diff --git a/src/commands.rs b/src/commands.rs
index 5ea8b949ce..58c04cccdd 100644
--- a/src/commands.rs
+++ b/src/commands.rs
@@ -29,8 +29,12 @@ use log::Level::Trace;
 use std::env;
 use std::ffi::{OsStr, OsString};
 use std::io::{self, IsTerminal, Write};
+#[cfg(not(windows))]
+use std::os::fd::AsRawFd;
 #[cfg(unix)]
 use std::os::unix::process::ExitStatusExt;
+#[cfg(windows)]
+use std::os::windows::io::AsRawHandle;
 use std::path::Path;
 use std::process;
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -758,12 +762,16 @@ pub fn run_command(cmd: Command) -> Result<i32> {
             trace!("Command::InternalStartServer");
             if env::var("SCCACHE_ERROR_LOG").is_ok() {
                 let f = create_error_log()?;
+                #[cfg(not(windows))]
+                let preserve = [f.as_raw_fd()];
+                #[cfg(windows)]
+                let preserve = [f.as_raw_handle()];
                 // Can't report failure here, we're already daemonized.
-                daemonize()?;
+                daemonize(&preserve)?;
                 redirect_error_log(f)?;
             } else {
                 // We aren't asking for a log file
-                daemonize()?;
+                daemonize(&[])?;
             }
             server::start_server(config, &get_addr())?;
         }
diff --git a/src/jobserver.rs b/src/jobserver.rs
index a0cb472ef4..65ac3848f1 100644
--- a/src/jobserver.rs
+++ b/src/jobserver.rs
@@ -29,44 +29,9 @@ use crate::errors::*;
 // What we do instead is to arbitrary use our own jobserver.
 // Unfortunately, that doesn't absolve us from having to deal with the original
 // jobserver, because make may give us file descriptors to its pipes, and the
-// simple fact of keeping them open can block it.
-// So if it does give us those file descriptors, close the preemptively.
-//
-// unsafe because it can use the wrong fds.
-#[cfg(not(windows))]
-pub unsafe fn discard_inherited_jobserver() {
-    if let Some(value) = ["CARGO_MAKEFLAGS", "MAKEFLAGS", "MFLAGS"]
-        .into_iter()
-        .find_map(|env| std::env::var(env).ok())
-        && let Some(auth) = value.rsplit(' ').find_map(|arg| {
-            arg.strip_prefix("--jobserver-auth=")
-                .or_else(|| arg.strip_prefix("--jobserver-fds="))
-        })
-        && !auth.starts_with("fifo:")
-    {
-        let mut parts = auth.splitn(2, ',');
-        let read = parts.next().unwrap();
-        let write = match parts.next() {
-            Some(w) => w,
-            None => return,
-        };
-        let read = read.parse().unwrap();
-        let write = write.parse().unwrap();
-        if read < 0 || write < 0 {
-            return;
-        }
-        unsafe {
-            if libc::fcntl(read, libc::F_GETFD) == -1 {
-                return;
-            }
-            if libc::fcntl(write, libc::F_GETFD) == -1 {
-                return;
-            }
-            libc::close(read);
-            libc::close(write);
-        }
-    }
-}
+// simple fact of keeping them open can block it. That is handled by closing
+// every inherited descriptor when the server detaches; see
+// `util::close_inherited_fds`.
 
 #[derive(Clone)]
 pub struct Client {
diff --git a/src/util.rs b/src/util.rs
index 408ae8a553..c359e4258e 100644
--- a/src/util.rs
+++ b/src/util.rs
@@ -897,10 +897,55 @@ impl Hasher for HashToDigest<'_> {
     }
 }
 
+/// Close every file descriptor we inherited from whoever spawned us, keeping
+/// stdin/out/err and anything in `preserve`.
+#[cfg(not(windows))]
+fn close_inherited_fds(preserve: &[std::os::unix::io::RawFd]) {
+    use std::os::unix::io::RawFd;
+
+    let keep = |fd: RawFd| fd <= libc::STDERR_FILENO || preserve.contains(&fd);
+
+    // macOS/BSD: /dev/fd; Linux: /proc/self/fd
+    let listing = std::fs::read_dir("/dev/fd").or_else(|_| std::fs::read_dir("/proc/self/fd"));
+    let victims: Option<Vec<RawFd>> = listing.ok().map(|entries| {
+        entries
+            .flatten()
+            .filter_map(|e| e.file_name().to_str()?.parse::<RawFd>().ok())
+            .filter(|fd| !keep(*fd))
+            .collect()
+    });
+
+    match victims {
+        Some(fds) => {
+            for fd in fds {
+                unsafe { libc::close(fd) };
+            }
+        }
+        // No fd directory to enumerate, so fall back to sweeping the whole
+        // range. Bounded by the soft limit rather than the hard one to keep
+        // this from turning into a million syscalls.
+        None => {
+            let max = unsafe { libc::sysconf(libc::_SC_OPEN_MAX) };
+            let max = if max < 0 {
+                4096
+            } else {
+                max.min(65536) as RawFd
+            };
+            for fd in (libc::STDERR_FILENO + 1)..max {
+                if !keep(fd) {
+                    unsafe { libc::close(fd) };
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /// Pipe `cmd`'s stdio to `/dev/null`, unless a specific env var is set.
+///
+/// `preserve_fds` lists descriptors the caller opened before daemonizing and
+/// still needs afterwards; everything else inherited is closed.
 #[cfg(not(windows))]
-pub fn daemonize() -> Result<()> {
-    use crate::jobserver::discard_inherited_jobserver;
+pub fn daemonize(preserve_fds: &[std::os::unix::io::RawFd]) -> Result<()> {
     use daemonix::Daemonize;
     use std::env;
     use std::mem;
@@ -912,9 +957,7 @@ pub fn daemonize() -> Result<()> {
         }
     }
 
-    unsafe {
-        discard_inherited_jobserver();
-    }
+    close_inherited_fds(preserve_fds);
 
     static mut PREV_SIGSEGV: *mut libc::sigaction = std::ptr::null_mut();
     static mut PREV_SIGBUS: *mut libc::sigaction = std::ptr::null_mut();
@@ -986,7 +1029,7 @@ pub fn daemonize() -> Result<()> {
 
 /// This is a no-op on Windows.
 #[cfg(windows)]
-pub fn daemonize() -> Result<()> {
+pub fn daemonize(_preserve_fds: &[std::os::windows::io::RawHandle]) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }