--- /dev/null
+diff --git a/io.c b/io.c
+index a6e786f..2bb8f28 100644
+--- a/io.c
++++ b/io.c
+@@ -2078,6 +2078,7 @@ use_pipes:
+ || close(ctop[0]) == -1 || close(ctop[1]) == -1)
+ fatal(_("close of pipe failed (%s)"), strerror(errno));
+ /* stderr does NOT get dup'ed onto child's stdout */
++ signal(SIGPIPE, SIG_DFL);
+ execl("/bin/sh", "sh", "-c", str, NULL);
+ _exit(errno == ENOENT ? 127 : 126);
+ }
+@@ -2271,6 +2272,7 @@ gawk_popen(const char *cmd, struct redirect *rp)
+ fatal(_("moving pipe to stdout in child failed (dup: %s)"), strerror(errno));
+ if (close(p[0]) == -1 || close(p[1]) == -1)
+ fatal(_("close of pipe failed (%s)"), strerror(errno));
++ signal(SIGPIPE, SIG_DFL);
+ execl("/bin/sh", "sh", "-c", cmd, NULL);
+ _exit(errno == ENOENT ? 127 : 126);
+ }