# Don't block on socket operations, because the socket will be
  # driven by a select loop.
  my $flags = fcntl($socket_handle, F_GETFL, 0)
    or do {
      $poe_kernel->yield($state_failure, 'fcntl', $!+0, $!);
      return undef;
    };
  $flags = fcntl($socket_handle, F_SETFL, $flags | O_NONBLOCK)
    or do {
      $poe_kernel->yield($state_failure, 'fcntl', $!+0, $!);
      return undef;
    };