diff --git a/src/process.c b/src/process.c
index 8b587aaa4e..703352e59e 100644
--- a/src/process.c
+++ b/src/process.c
@@ -2155,6 +2155,10 @@ create_process (Lisp_Object process, char **new_argv, Lisp_Object current_dir)
   fcntl (inchannel, F_SETFL, O_NONBLOCK);
   fcntl (outchannel, F_SETFL, O_NONBLOCK);
 
+#if defined(GNU_LINUX) && defined(F_SETPIPE_SZ)
+  fcntl (inchannel, F_SETPIPE_SZ, read_process_output_max);
+#endif
+
   /* Record this as an active process, with its channels.  */
   eassert (0 <= inchannel && inchannel < FD_SETSIZE);
   chan_process[inchannel] = process;
@@ -8571,7 +8575,10 @@ syms_of_process (void)
   DEFVAR_INT ("read-process-output-max", read_process_output_max,
 	      doc: /* Maximum number of bytes to read from subprocess in a single chunk.
 Enlarge the value only if the subprocess generates very large (megabytes)
-amounts of data in one go.  */);
+amounts of data in one go.
+
+On GNU/Linux system, the value should not exceed
+`/proc/sys/fs/pipe-max-size'. See pipe(7) manpage for details. */);
   read_process_output_max = 4096;
 
   DEFSYM (Qinternal_default_interrupt_process,