diff --git a/src/basic/fileio.c b/src/basic/fileio.c
index c82a9d2c01..4c365ad6fa 100644
--- a/src/basic/fileio.c
+++ b/src/basic/fileio.c
@@ -80,6 +80,18 @@ FILE* take_fdopen(int *fd, const char *options) {
         return f;
 }
 
+DIR* take_fdopendir(int *dfd) {
+        assert(dfd);
+
+        DIR *d = fdopendir(*dfd);
+        if (!d)
+                return NULL;
+
+        *dfd = -1;
+
+        return d;
+}
+
 FILE* open_memstream_unlocked(char **ptr, size_t *sizeloc) {
         FILE *f = open_memstream(ptr, sizeloc);
         if (!f)
diff --git a/src/basic/fileio.h b/src/basic/fileio.h
index 525f6ac814..58daabaa8f 100644
--- a/src/basic/fileio.h
+++ b/src/basic/fileio.h
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ int fopen_unlocked(const char *path, const char *options, FILE **ret);
 int fdopen_unlocked(int fd, const char *options, FILE **ret);
 int take_fdopen_unlocked(int *fd, const char *options, FILE **ret);
 FILE* take_fdopen(int *fd, const char *options);
+DIR* take_fdopendir(int *dfd);
 FILE* open_memstream_unlocked(char **ptr, size_t *sizeloc);
 FILE* fmemopen_unlocked(void *buf, size_t size, const char *mode);