diff --git a/libs/pbd/system_exec.cc b/libs/pbd/system_exec.cc
index 02c52c5f3b..f2b3b6ea90 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/system_exec.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/system_exec.cc
@@ -844,7 +844,7 @@ SystemExec::output_interposer ()
 			pfd.fd = rfd;
 			pfd.events = POLLIN|POLLERR|POLLHUP;
 
-			int rv = poll (&pfd, 1, 10000);
+			int rv = poll (&pfd, 1, -1);
 
 			if (rv == -1) {
 				break;