diff --git a/hw/hw.h b/hw/hw.h
index a3f5717b3e30f92512b221ad7953e622330cc878..c83580073cf7b71eec4d6529e82ab0f79a9140a5 100644
--- a/hw/hw.h
+++ b/hw/hw.h
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ QEMUFile *qemu_fopen(const char *filename, const char *mode);
 QEMUFile *qemu_fopen_socket(int fd);
 QEMUFile *qemu_popen(FILE *popen_file, const char *mode);
 QEMUFile *qemu_popen_cmd(const char *command, const char *mode);
+int qemu_popen_fd(QEMUFile *f);
 void qemu_fflush(QEMUFile *f);
 int qemu_fclose(QEMUFile *f);
 void qemu_put_buffer(QEMUFile *f, const uint8_t *buf, int size);
diff --git a/migration-exec.c b/migration-exec.c
index f0869a1146e6f42d357f1a505fe854507d5eeb6e..0dd5aff315c24b207e6c8dc22c2eba036fb02075 100644
--- a/migration-exec.c
+++ b/migration-exec.c
@@ -104,17 +104,11 @@ err_after_alloc:
     return NULL;
 }
 
-int exec_start_incoming_migration(const char *command)
+static void exec_accept_incoming_migration(void *opaque)
 {
+    QEMUFile *f = opaque;
     int ret;
-    QEMUFile *f;
 
-    dprintf("Attempting to start an incoming migration\n");
-    f = qemu_popen_cmd(command, "r");
-    if(f == NULL) {
-        dprintf("Unable to apply qemu wrapper to popen file\n");
-        return -errno;
-    }
     vm_stop(0); /* just in case */
     ret = qemu_loadvm_state(f);
     if (ret < 0) {
@@ -123,11 +117,28 @@ int exec_start_incoming_migration(const char *command)
     }
     qemu_announce_self();
     dprintf("successfully loaded vm state\n");
+    /* we've successfully migrated, close the fd */
+    qemu_set_fd_handler2(qemu_popen_fd(f), NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
     vm_start();
-    qemu_fclose(f);
-    return 0;
 
 err:
     qemu_fclose(f);
-    return -errno;
+}
+
+int exec_start_incoming_migration(const char *command)
+{
+    QEMUFile *f;
+
+    dprintf("Attempting to start an incoming migration\n");
+    f = qemu_popen_cmd(command, "r");
+    if(f == NULL) {
+        dprintf("Unable to apply qemu wrapper to popen file\n");
+        return -errno;
+    }
+
+    qemu_set_fd_handler2(qemu_popen_fd(f), NULL,
+			 exec_accept_incoming_migration, NULL,
+			 (void *)(unsigned long)f);
+
+    return 0;
 }
diff --git a/savevm.c b/savevm.c
index 68ffd03e6e4d8d4e37ba1004bc6c36bc80657ba2..248aea3edfa1cd1ff32197db94b355273594a9bf 100644
--- a/savevm.c
+++ b/savevm.c
@@ -244,7 +244,6 @@ QEMUFile *qemu_popen(FILE *popen_file, const char *mode)
     } else {
         s->file = qemu_fopen_ops(s, popen_put_buffer, NULL, popen_close, NULL, NULL);
     }
-    fprintf(stderr, "qemu_popen: returning result of qemu_fopen_ops\n");
     return s->file;
 }
 
@@ -260,6 +259,17 @@ QEMUFile *qemu_popen_cmd(const char *command, const char *mode)
     return qemu_popen(popen_file, mode);
 }
 
+int qemu_popen_fd(QEMUFile *f)
+{
+    QEMUFilePopen *p;
+    int fd;
+
+    p = (QEMUFilePopen *)f->opaque;
+    fd = fileno(p->popen_file);
+
+    return fd;
+}
+
 QEMUFile *qemu_fopen_socket(int fd)
 {
     QEMUFileSocket *s = qemu_mallocz(sizeof(QEMUFileSocket));