diff --git a/Doc/c-api/concrete.rst b/Doc/c-api/concrete.rst
index cdea26f..1e1fa0d 100644
--- a/Doc/c-api/concrete.rst
+++ b/Doc/c-api/concrete.rst
@@ -2401,12 +2401,12 @@
    :ctype:`PyFileObject`.
 
 
-.. cfunction:: PyFile_FromFd(int fd, char *name, char *mode, int buffering, char *encoding, char *newline)
+.. cfunction:: PyFile_FromFd(int fd, char *name, char *mode, int buffering, char *encoding, char *newline, int closefd)
 
    Create a new :ctype:`PyFileObject` from the file descriptor of an already
    opened file *fd*. The arguments *name*, *encoding* and *newline* can be
-   *NULL* as well as buffering can be *-1* to use the defaults. Return *NULL* on
-   failure.
+   *NULL* to use the defaults; *buffering* can be *-1* to use the default.
+   Return *NULL* on failure.
 
    .. warning::
 
diff --git a/Include/fileobject.h b/Include/fileobject.h
index acb8c6d..ae127da 100644
--- a/Include/fileobject.h
+++ b/Include/fileobject.h
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 
 #define PY_STDIOTEXTMODE "b"
 
-PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) PyFile_FromFd(int, char *, char *, int, char *, char *);
+PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) PyFile_FromFd(int, char *, char *, int, char *, char *,
+				     int);
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) PyFile_GetLine(PyObject *, int);
 PyAPI_FUNC(int) PyFile_WriteObject(PyObject *, PyObject *, int);
 PyAPI_FUNC(int) PyFile_WriteString(const char *, PyObject *);
diff --git a/Lib/io.py b/Lib/io.py
index c2d803c..d7709c4 100644
--- a/Lib/io.py
+++ b/Lib/io.py
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@
         self.characters_written = characters_written
 
 
-def open(file, mode="r", buffering=None, encoding=None, newline=None):
+def open(file, mode="r", buffering=None, encoding=None, newline=None,
+         closefd=True):
     r"""Replacement for the built-in open function.
 
     Args:
@@ -81,9 +82,12 @@
           other legal values, any `'\n'` characters written are
           translated to the given string.
 
+      closefd: optional argument to keep the underlying file descriptor
+               open when the file is closed.  It must not be false when
+               a filename is given.
+
     (*) If a file descriptor is given, it is closed when the returned
-    I/O object is closed.  If you don't want this to happen, use
-    os.dup() to create a duplicate file descriptor.
+    I/O object is closed, unless closefd=False is give.
 
     Mode strings characters:
       'r': open for reading (default)
@@ -138,7 +142,8 @@
                  (reading and "r" or "") +
                  (writing and "w" or "") +
                  (appending and "a" or "") +
-                 (updating and "+" or ""))
+                 (updating and "+" or ""),
+                 closefd)
     if buffering is None:
         buffering = -1
     if buffering < 0 and raw.isatty():
diff --git a/Lib/quopri.py b/Lib/quopri.py
index 62c0503..6b3d13e 100755
--- a/Lib/quopri.py
+++ b/Lib/quopri.py
@@ -227,12 +227,14 @@
                 sys.stderr.write("%s: can't open (%s)\n" % (file, msg))
                 sts = 1
                 continue
-        if deco:
-            decode(fp, sys.stdout.buffer)
-        else:
-            encode(fp, sys.stdout.buffer, tabs)
-        if fp is not sys.stdin:
-            fp.close()
+        try:
+            if deco:
+                decode(fp, sys.stdout.buffer)
+            else:
+                encode(fp, sys.stdout.buffer, tabs)
+        finally:
+            if file != '-':
+                fp.close()
     if sts:
         sys.exit(sts)
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_io.py b/Lib/test/test_io.py
index e826ff4..9d4163e 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_io.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_io.py
@@ -259,6 +259,9 @@
         self.assertEqual(f.write(a), n)
         f.close()
 
+    def test_closefd(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, io.open, test_support.TESTFN, 'w',
+                          closefd=False)
 
 class MemorySeekTestMixin:
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 4ec628f..41b8ab1 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
   with `Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding` and a new API method 
   `PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefault(char*)` was added.
 
+- io.open() and _fileio.FileIO have grown a new argument closefd. A false
+  value disables the closing of the file descriptor.
+
 Extension Modules
 -----------------
 
diff --git a/Modules/_fileio.c b/Modules/_fileio.c
index bc707e8..8469bb2 100644
--- a/Modules/_fileio.c
+++ b/Modules/_fileio.c
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 	unsigned readable : 1;
 	unsigned writable : 1;
 	int seekable : 2; /* -1 means unknown */
+	int closefd : 1;
 	PyObject *weakreflist;
 } PyFileIOObject;
 
@@ -59,6 +60,13 @@
 static PyObject *
 fileio_close(PyFileIOObject *self)
 {
+	if (!self->closefd) {
+		if (PyErr_WarnEx(PyExc_RuntimeWarning,
+				 "Trying to close unclosable fd!", 3) < 0) {
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		Py_RETURN_NONE;
+	}
 	errno = internal_close(self);
 	if (errno < 0) {
 		PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_IOError);
@@ -119,7 +127,7 @@
 fileio_init(PyObject *oself, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
 	PyFileIOObject *self = (PyFileIOObject *) oself;
-	static char *kwlist[] = {"file", "mode", NULL};
+	static char *kwlist[] = {"file", "mode", "closefd", NULL};
 	char *name = NULL;
 	char *mode = "r";
 	char *s;
@@ -130,6 +138,7 @@
 	int rwa = 0, plus = 0, append = 0;
 	int flags = 0;
 	int fd = -1;
+	int closefd = 1;
 
 	assert(PyFileIO_Check(oself));
 	if (self->fd >= 0) {
@@ -138,8 +147,8 @@
 			return -1;
 	}
 
-	if (PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "i|s:fileio",
-					kwlist, &fd, &mode)) {
+	if (PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "i|si:fileio",
+					kwlist, &fd, &mode, &closefd)) {
 		if (fd < 0) {
 			PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError,
 					"Negative filedescriptor");
@@ -153,8 +162,9 @@
 	    if (GetVersion() < 0x80000000) {
 		/* On NT, so wide API available */
 		PyObject *po;
-		if (PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "U|s:fileio",
-						kwlist, &po, &mode)) {
+		if (PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "U|si:fileio",
+						kwlist, &po, &mode, &closefd)
+						) {
 			widename = PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(po);
 		} else {
 			/* Drop the argument parsing error as narrow
@@ -162,13 +172,13 @@
 			PyErr_Clear();
 		}
 	    }
-	    if (widename == NULL) 
+	    if (widename == NULL)
 #endif
 	    {
-		if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "et|s:fileio",
+		if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "et|si:fileio",
 						 kwlist,
 						 Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding,
-						 &name, &mode))
+						 &name, &mode, &closefd))
 			goto error;
 	    }
 	}
@@ -237,8 +247,16 @@
 
 	if (fd >= 0) {
 		self->fd = fd;
+		self->closefd = closefd;
 	}
 	else {
+		self->closefd = 1;
+		if (!closefd) {
+			PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError,
+                            "Cannot use closefd=True with file name");
+			goto error;
+		}
+
 		Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
 		errno = 0;
 #ifdef MS_WINDOWS
@@ -270,7 +288,7 @@
 	if (self->weakreflist != NULL)
 		PyObject_ClearWeakRefs((PyObject *) self);
 
-	if (self->fd >= 0) {
+	if (self->fd >= 0 && self->closefd) {
 		errno = internal_close(self);
 		if (errno < 0) {
 #ifdef HAVE_STRERROR
diff --git a/Objects/fileobject.c b/Objects/fileobject.c
index 9f63814..4e18480 100644
--- a/Objects/fileobject.c
+++ b/Objects/fileobject.c
@@ -27,15 +27,15 @@
 
 PyObject *
 PyFile_FromFd(int fd, char *name, char *mode, int buffering, char *encoding,
-	      char *newline)
+	      char *newline, int closefd)
 {
 	PyObject *io, *stream, *nameobj = NULL;
 
 	io = PyImport_ImportModule("io");
 	if (io == NULL)
 		return NULL;
-	stream = PyObject_CallMethod(io, "open", "isiss", fd, mode,
-				     buffering, encoding, newline);
+	stream = PyObject_CallMethod(io, "open", "isissi", fd, mode,
+				     buffering, encoding, newline, closefd);
 	Py_DECREF(io);
 	if (stream == NULL)
 		return NULL;
diff --git a/Python/import.c b/Python/import.c
index 2493554..be456f1 100644
--- a/Python/import.c
+++ b/Python/import.c
@@ -2588,7 +2588,7 @@
 				   (char*)PyUnicode_GetDefaultEncoding();
 		}
 		fob = PyFile_FromFd(fd, pathname, fdp->mode, -1,
-					(char*)encoding, NULL);
+				    (char*)encoding, NULL, 1);
 		if (fob == NULL) {
 			close(fd);
 			PyMem_FREE(found_encoding);
diff --git a/Python/pythonrun.c b/Python/pythonrun.c
index 330667a..76da8fb 100644
--- a/Python/pythonrun.c
+++ b/Python/pythonrun.c
@@ -720,7 +720,7 @@
 
 	/* Set sys.stdin */
 	if (!(std = PyFile_FromFd(fileno(stdin), "<stdin>", "r", -1,
-				      NULL, "\n"))) {
+				  NULL, "\n", 0))) {
 		goto error;
 	}
 	PySys_SetObject("__stdin__", std);
@@ -729,16 +729,16 @@
 
 	/* Set sys.stdout */
 	if (!(std = PyFile_FromFd(fileno(stdout), "<stdout>", "w", -1,
-				      NULL, "\n"))) {
+				  NULL, "\n", 0))) {
             goto error;
         }
 	PySys_SetObject("__stdout__", std);
 	PySys_SetObject("stdout", std);
 	Py_DECREF(std);
 
-	/* Set sys.stderr */
+	/* Set sys.stderr, replaces the preliminary stderr */
 	if (!(std = PyFile_FromFd(fileno(stderr), "<stderr>", "w", -1,
-				      NULL, "\n"))) {
+				  NULL, "\n", 0))) {
             goto error;
         }
         PySys_SetObject("__stderr__", std);