diff -r 663b16a373e5 bmake/job.c
--- a/bmake/job.c	Sun Apr 15 11:34:25 2018 -0700
+++ b/bmake/job.c	Fri May 11 17:03:17 2018 -0700
@@ -318,7 +318,6 @@
 
 STATIC Job	*job_table;	/* The structures that describe them */
 STATIC Job	*job_table_end;	/* job_table + maxJobs */
-static int	wantToken;	/* we want a token */
 static int lurking_children = 0;
 static int make_suspended = 0;	/* non-zero if we've seen a SIGTSTP (etc) */
 
@@ -2110,7 +2109,7 @@
 
     /* The first fd in the list is the job token pipe */
     do {
-	nready = poll(fds + 1 - wantToken, nfds - 1 + wantToken, POLL_MSEC);
+	nready = poll(fds, nfds, POLL_MSEC);
     } while (nready < 0 && errno == EINTR);
 
     if (nready < 0)
@@ -2262,7 +2261,6 @@
     job_table = bmake_malloc(maxJobs * sizeof *job_table);
     memset(job_table, 0, maxJobs * sizeof *job_table);
     job_table_end = job_table + maxJobs;
-    wantToken =	0;
 
     aborting = 	  0;
     errors = 	  0;
@@ -2294,8 +2292,7 @@
     fds = bmake_malloc(sizeof (*fds) * (2 + maxJobs));
     jobfds = bmake_malloc(sizeof (*jobfds) * (2 + maxJobs));
 
-    /* These are permanent entries and take slots 0 and 1 */
-    watchfd(&tokenWaitJob);
+    /* Permanent entry */
     watchfd(&childExitJob);
 
     sigemptyset(&caught_signals);
@@ -2939,8 +2936,7 @@
  *	is currently empty.
  *
  * Side Effects:
- * 	If pool is empty, set wantToken so that we wake up
- *	when a token is released.
+ * 	If pool is empty and no jobs running; sleep a bit.
  *
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -2952,7 +2948,6 @@
     char tok, tok1;
     int count;
 
-    wantToken = 0;
     if (DEBUG(JOB))
 	fprintf(debug_file, "Job_TokenWithdraw(%d): aborting %d, running %d\n",
 		getpid(), aborting, jobTokensRunning);
@@ -2963,14 +2958,16 @@
     count = read(tokenWaitJob.inPipe, &tok, 1);
     if (count == 0)
 	Fatal("eof on job pipe!");
-    if (count < 0 && jobTokensRunning != 0) {
+    if (count < 0) {
 	if (errno != EAGAIN) {
 	    Fatal("job pipe read: %s", strerror(errno));
 	}
 	if (DEBUG(JOB))
 	    fprintf(debug_file, "(%d) blocked for token\n", getpid());
-	wantToken = 1;
-	return FALSE;
+	if (!jobTokensRunning)
+	    sleep(1);			/* avoid busy wait */
+	else
+	    return FALSE;
     }
 
     if (count == 1 && tok != '+') {