MANIFEST                   |  1 +
 lib/PublicInbox/DirIdle.pm | 11 +++++++++++
 lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm     |  2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/LI2Wrap.pm | 19 +++++++++++++++++++

diff --git a/MANIFEST b/MANIFEST
index a39135018f39275606a87b8e40887d17497dd1f0..fb9f16bfb37ebb3d8f20a80570aa77754ceed306 100644
--- a/MANIFEST
+++ b/MANIFEST
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ lib/PublicInbox/InputPipe.pm
 lib/PublicInbox/Isearch.pm
 lib/PublicInbox/KQNotify.pm
 lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+lib/PublicInbox/LI2Wrap.pm
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiALE.pm
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiAddWatch.pm
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiAuth.pm
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/DirIdle.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/DirIdle.pm
index 65896f950f51f756998899bd44a8c44a4442c116..d572c2749f7fc750e0a3ae3cbcf8748b1263ef10 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/DirIdle.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/DirIdle.pm
@@ -84,4 +84,15 @@ 	};
 	warn "$self->{inot}->read err: $@\n" if $@;
 }
 
+sub force_close {
+	my ($self) = @_;
+	my $inot = delete $self->{inot} // return;
+	if ($inot->can('fh')) { # Linux::Inotify2 2.3+
+		close($inot->fh) or warn "CLOSE ERROR: $!";
+	} elsif ($inot->isa('Linux::Inotify2')) {
+		require PublicInbox::LI2Wrap;
+		PublicInbox::LI2Wrap::wrapclose($inot);
+	}
+}
+
 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index d9fd40fd90e8244399e89a252f7f55a943cc2ea5..e6f763e1067869e0a7c6d3bb8a90e2b544f45e0d 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -556,7 +556,7 @@ 		close($_) for (@$pgr[1,2]);
 	}
 	close $listener if $listener;
 	undef $listener;
-	undef $dir_idle;
+	$dir_idle->force_close if $dir_idle;
 	%PATH2CFG = ();
 	$MDIR2CFGPATH = {};
 	eval 'no warnings; undef $PublicInbox::LeiNoteEvent::to_flush';
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LI2Wrap.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LI2Wrap.pm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..61cf4beef081e6d7d4128484e88e0d5a9df6a1c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LI2Wrap.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Copyright (C) all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
+# License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>
+
+# Wrapper for Linux::Inotify2 < 2.3 which lacked ->fh and auto-close
+# Remove this when supported LTS/enterprise distros are all
+# Linux::Inotify2 >= 2.3
+package PublicInbox::LI2Wrap;
+use v5.10.1;
+our @ISA = qw(Linux::Inotify2);
+
+sub wrapclose {
+	my ($inot) = @_;
+	my $fd = $inot->fileno;
+	open my $fh, '<&=', $fd or die "open <&= $fd $!";
+}
+
+sub DESTROY {} # no-op
+
+1