diff --git a/src/libutil/monitor-fd.hh b/src/libutil/monitor-fd.hh
index 228fb13f8..233b73796 100644
--- a/src/libutil/monitor-fd.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/monitor-fd.hh
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <signal.h>
 
+#include "error.hh"
+#include "file-descriptor.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
@@ -19,19 +21,36 @@ class MonitorFdHup
 {
 private:
     std::thread thread;
+    /**
+     * Pipe used to interrupt the poll()ing in the monitoring thread.
+     */
+    Pipe terminatePipe;
+    std::atomic_bool quit = false;
 
 public:
     MonitorFdHup(int fd)
     {
-        thread = std::thread([fd]() {
-            while (true) {
+        terminatePipe.create();
+        auto &quit_ = this->quit;
+        int terminateFd = terminatePipe.readSide.get();
+        thread = std::thread([fd, terminateFd, &quit_]() {
+            while (!quit_) {
                 /* Wait indefinitely until a POLLHUP occurs. */
-                struct pollfd fds[1];
+                struct pollfd fds[2];
                 fds[0].fd = fd;
                 /* Polling for no specific events (i.e. just waiting
                    for an error/hangup) doesn't work on macOS
                    anymore. So wait for read events and ignore
                    them. */
+                // FIXME(jade): we have looked at the XNU kernel code and as
+                // far as we can tell, the above is bogus. It should be the
+                // case that the previous version of this and the current
+                // version are identical: waiting for POLLHUP and POLLRDNORM in
+                // the kernel *should* be identical.
+                // https://github.com/apple-oss-distributions/xnu/blob/94d3b452840153a99b38a3a9659680b2a006908e/bsd/kern/sys_generic.c#L1751-L1758
+                //
+                // So, this needs actual testing and we need to figure out if
+                // this is actually bogus.
                 fds[0].events =
                     #ifdef __APPLE__
                     POLLRDNORM
@@ -39,8 +58,18 @@ public:
                     0
                     #endif
                     ;
-                auto count = poll(fds, 1, -1);
-                if (count == -1) abort(); // can't happen
+                fds[1].fd = terminateFd;
+                fds[1].events = POLLIN;
+
+                auto count = poll(fds, 2, -1);
+                if (count == -1) {
+                    if (errno == EINTR || errno == EAGAIN) {
+                        // These are best dealt with by just trying again.
+                        continue;
+                    } else {
+                        throw SysError("in MonitorFdHup poll()");
+                    }
+                }
                 /* This shouldn't happen, but can on macOS due to a bug.
                    See rdar://37550628.
 
@@ -53,6 +82,11 @@ public:
                     triggerInterrupt();
                     break;
                 }
+                // No reason to actually look at the pipe FD, we just need it
+                // to be able to get woken.
+                if (quit_) {
+                    break;
+                }
                 /* This will only happen on macOS. We sleep a bit to
                    avoid waking up too often if the client is sending
                    input. */
@@ -63,7 +97,9 @@ public:
 
     ~MonitorFdHup()
     {
-        pthread_cancel(thread.native_handle());
+        quit = true;
+        // Poke the thread out of its poll wait
+        writeFull(terminatePipe.writeSide.get(), "*", false);
         thread.join();
     }
 };