diff --git a/src/libmain/shared.cc b/src/libmain/shared.cc
index 09af57871..86930c2e3 100644
--- a/src/libmain/shared.cc
+++ b/src/libmain/shared.cc
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ void printVersion(const string & programName)
 
 void showManPage(const string & name)
 {
-    restoreSignals();
+    restoreProcessContext();
     setenv("MANPATH", settings.nixManDir.c_str(), 1);
     execlp("man", "man", name.c_str(), nullptr);
     throw SysError("command 'man %1%' failed", name.c_str());
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@ RunPager::RunPager()
             throw SysError("dupping stdin");
         if (!getenv("LESS"))
             setenv("LESS", "FRSXMK", 1);
-        restoreSignals();
+        restoreProcessContext();
         if (pager)
             execl("/bin/sh", "sh", "-c", pager, nullptr);
         execlp("pager", "pager", nullptr);
diff --git a/src/libstore/ssh.cc b/src/libstore/ssh.cc
index 235eed37a..93f72675d 100644
--- a/src/libstore/ssh.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/ssh.cc
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ std::unique_ptr<SSHMaster::Connection> SSHMaster::startCommand(const std::string
     options.dieWithParent = false;
 
     conn->sshPid = startProcess([&]() {
-        restoreSignals();
+        restoreProcessContext();
 
         close(in.writeSide.get());
         close(out.readSide.get());
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ Path SSHMaster::startMaster()
     options.dieWithParent = false;
 
     state->sshMaster = startProcess([&]() {
-        restoreSignals();
+        restoreProcessContext();
 
         close(out.readSide.get());
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index a6fcabbec..06821abb1 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -1116,7 +1116,7 @@ void runProgram2(const RunOptions & options)
         Strings args_(options.args);
         args_.push_front(options.program);
 
-        restoreSignals();
+        restoreProcessContext();
 
         if (options.searchPath)
             execvp(options.program.c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args_).data());
@@ -1612,12 +1612,19 @@ void startSignalHandlerThread()
     std::thread(signalHandlerThread, set).detach();
 }
 
-void restoreSignals()
+static void restoreSignals()
 {
     if (sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, &savedSignalMask, nullptr))
         throw SysError("restoring signals");
 }
 
+void restoreProcessContext()
+{
+    restoreSignals();
+
+    restoreAffinity();
+}
+
 /* RAII helper to automatically deregister a callback. */
 struct InterruptCallbackImpl : InterruptCallback
 {
@@ -1680,10 +1687,11 @@ string showBytes(uint64_t bytes)
 }
 
 
+// FIXME: move to libstore/build
 void commonChildInit(Pipe & logPipe)
 {
     const static string pathNullDevice = "/dev/null";
-    restoreSignals();
+    restoreProcessContext();
 
     /* Put the child in a separate session (and thus a separate
        process group) so that it has no controlling terminal (meaning
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.hh b/src/libutil/util.hh
index ef5e5012b..4762d1e55 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/util.hh
@@ -300,6 +300,11 @@ std::pair<int, std::string> runProgram(const RunOptions & options);
 void runProgram2(const RunOptions & options);
 
 
+/* Restore the original inherited Unix process context (such as signal
+   masks, stack size, CPU affinity). */
+void restoreProcessContext();
+
+
 class ExecError : public Error
 {
 public:
@@ -513,9 +518,6 @@ class Callback;
    on the current thread (and thus any threads created by it). */
 void startSignalHandlerThread();
 
-/* Restore default signal handling. */
-void restoreSignals();
-
 struct InterruptCallback
 {
     virtual ~InterruptCallback() { };
diff --git a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
index d46bc1f2b..9acbedda2 100755
--- a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
+++ b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
@@ -422,8 +422,6 @@ static void main_nix_build(int argc, char * * argv)
             } else
                 env[var.first] = var.second;
 
-        restoreAffinity();
-
         /* Run a shell using the derivation's environment.  For
            convenience, source $stdenv/setup to setup additional
            environment variables and shell functions.  Also don't
@@ -473,7 +471,7 @@ static void main_nix_build(int argc, char * * argv)
 
         auto argPtrs = stringsToCharPtrs(args);
 
-        restoreSignals();
+        restoreProcessContext();
 
         logger->stop();
 
diff --git a/src/nix/develop.cc b/src/nix/develop.cc
index 7cc7b85be..498a7b45c 100644
--- a/src/nix/develop.cc
+++ b/src/nix/develop.cc
@@ -462,8 +462,7 @@ struct CmdDevelop : Common, MixEnvironment
         auto args = phase || !command.empty() ? Strings{std::string(baseNameOf(shell)), rcFilePath}
             : Strings{std::string(baseNameOf(shell)), "--rcfile", rcFilePath};
 
-        restoreAffinity();
-        restoreSignals();
+        restoreProcessContext();
 
         execvp(shell.c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args).data());
 
diff --git a/src/nix/edit.cc b/src/nix/edit.cc
index 6472dd27a..b26417b18 100644
--- a/src/nix/edit.cc
+++ b/src/nix/edit.cc
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ struct CmdEdit : InstallableCommand
 
         auto args = editorFor(pos);
 
-        restoreSignals();
+        restoreProcessContext();
+
         execvp(args.front().c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args).data());
 
         std::string command;
diff --git a/src/nix/repl.cc b/src/nix/repl.cc
index bce8d31dc..eed79c332 100644
--- a/src/nix/repl.cc
+++ b/src/nix/repl.cc
@@ -343,24 +343,6 @@ StringSet NixRepl::completePrefix(string prefix)
 }
 
 
-static int runProgram(const string & program, const Strings & args)
-{
-    Strings args2(args);
-    args2.push_front(program);
-
-    Pid pid;
-    pid = fork();
-    if (pid == -1) throw SysError("forking");
-    if (pid == 0) {
-        restoreAffinity();
-        execvp(program.c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args2).data());
-        _exit(1);
-    }
-
-    return pid.wait();
-}
-
-
 bool isVarName(const string & s)
 {
     if (s.size() == 0) return false;
@@ -462,7 +444,7 @@ bool NixRepl::processLine(string line)
         auto args = editorFor(pos);
         auto editor = args.front();
         args.pop_front();
-        runProgram(editor, args);
+        runProgram(editor, true, args);
 
         // Reload right after exiting the editor
         state->resetFileCache();
@@ -481,7 +463,7 @@ bool NixRepl::processLine(string line)
         state->callFunction(f, v, result, Pos());
 
         StorePath drvPath = getDerivationPath(result);
-        runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-shell", Strings{state->store->printStorePath(drvPath)});
+        runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-shell", true, {state->store->printStorePath(drvPath)});
     }
 
     else if (command == ":b" || command == ":i" || command == ":s") {
@@ -494,16 +476,18 @@ bool NixRepl::processLine(string line)
             /* We could do the build in this process using buildPaths(),
                but doing it in a child makes it easier to recover from
                problems / SIGINT. */
-            if (runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix", Strings{"build", "--no-link", drvPathRaw}) == 0) {
+            try {
+                runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix", true, {"build", "--no-link", drvPathRaw});
                 auto drv = state->store->readDerivation(drvPath);
                 std::cout << std::endl << "this derivation produced the following outputs:" << std::endl;
                 for (auto & i : drv.outputsAndOptPaths(*state->store))
                     std::cout << fmt("  %s -> %s\n", i.first, state->store->printStorePath(*i.second.second));
+            } catch (ExecError &) {
             }
         } else if (command == ":i") {
-            runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-env", Strings{"-i", drvPathRaw});
+            runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-env", true, {"-i", drvPathRaw});
         } else {
-            runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-shell", Strings{drvPathRaw});
+            runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-shell", true, {drvPathRaw});
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/nix/run.cc b/src/nix/run.cc
index ba60e57d8..b5d8ab38a 100644
--- a/src/nix/run.cc
+++ b/src/nix/run.cc
@@ -31,9 +31,7 @@ struct RunCommon : virtual Command
     {
         stopProgressBar();
 
-        restoreSignals();
-
-        restoreAffinity();
+        restoreProcessContext();
 
         /* If this is a diverted store (i.e. its "logical" location
            (typically /nix/store) differs from its "physical" location