--- a/src/core/ngx_open_file_cache.c
+++ b/src/core/ngx_open_file_cache.c
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
  */
 
 
+#define NGX_MIN_READ_AHEAD  (128 * 1024)
+
+
 static void ngx_open_file_cache_cleanup(void *data);
 static ngx_int_t ngx_open_and_stat_file(u_char *name, ngx_open_file_info_t *of,
     ngx_log_t *log);
@@ -487,7 +490,14 @@ ngx_open_and_stat_file(u_char *name, ngx
     }
 
     if (!of->log) {
-        fd = ngx_open_file(name, NGX_FILE_RDONLY, NGX_FILE_OPEN, 0);
+
+        /*
+         * Use non-blocking open() not to hang on FIFO files, etc.
+         * This flag has no effect on a regular files.
+         */
+
+        fd = ngx_open_file(name, NGX_FILE_RDONLY|NGX_FILE_NONBLOCK,
+                           NGX_FILE_OPEN, 0);
 
     } else {
         fd = ngx_open_file(name, NGX_FILE_APPEND, NGX_FILE_CREATE_OR_OPEN,
@@ -524,8 +534,15 @@ ngx_open_and_stat_file(u_char *name, ngx
     } else {
         of->fd = fd;
 
+        if (of->read_ahead && ngx_file_size(&fi) > NGX_MIN_READ_AHEAD) {
+            if (ngx_read_ahead(fd, of->read_ahead) == NGX_ERROR) {
+                ngx_log_error(NGX_LOG_ALERT, log, ngx_errno,
+                              ngx_read_ahead_n " \"%s\" failed", name);
+            }
+        }
+
         if (of->directio <= ngx_file_size(&fi)) {
-            if (ngx_directio_on(fd) == -1) {
+            if (ngx_directio_on(fd) == NGX_FILE_ERROR) {
                 ngx_log_error(NGX_LOG_ALERT, log, ngx_errno,
                               ngx_directio_on_n " \"%s\" failed", name);