diff --git a/guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm b/guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm
index be5ad78b9..2c6cb4ad2 100644
--- a/guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm
+++ b/guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm
@@ -51,6 +51,28 @@
    (define time-monotonic time-tai))
   (else #t))
 
+(define* (install-SIGCHLD-handler #:rest _)
+  "Handle SIGCHLD signals.  Since this code is usually running as PID 1 in the
+build daemon, it has to reap dead processes, hence this procedure."
+  ;; In Guile <= 2.0.9, syscalls could throw EINTR.  With these versions,
+  ;; installing a SIGCHLD handler is not safe because we could have uncaught
+  ;; 'system-error' exceptions at any time.
+  (when (or (not (string=? (effective-version) "2.0"))
+            (> (string->number (micro-version)) 9))
+    (format #t "installing SIGCHLD handler in PID ~a\n" (getpid))
+    (sigaction SIGCHLD
+      (lambda _
+        (let loop ()
+          (match (catch 'system-error
+                   (lambda ()
+                     (waitpid WAIT_ANY WNOHANG))
+                   (lambda args
+                     '(0 . -)))
+            ((0 . _) #f)
+            ((pid . _) (loop)))))
+      SA_NOCLDSTOP))
+  #t)
+
 (define* (set-SOURCE-DATE-EPOCH #:rest _)
   "Set the 'SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH' environment variable.  This is used by tools
 that incorporate timestamps as a way to tell them to use a fixed timestamp.
@@ -758,7 +780,8 @@ which cannot be found~%"
   ;; Standard build phases, as a list of symbol/procedure pairs.
   (let-syntax ((phases (syntax-rules ()
                          ((_ p ...) `((p . ,p) ...)))))
-    (phases set-SOURCE-DATE-EPOCH set-paths install-locale unpack
+    (phases install-SIGCHLD-handler
+            set-SOURCE-DATE-EPOCH set-paths install-locale unpack
             bootstrap
             patch-usr-bin-file
             patch-source-shebangs configure patch-generated-file-shebangs