diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index bcbfffe5..bb9cfc98 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ edition = "2018"
 rust-version = "1.63"
 
 [dependencies]
-jobserver = { version = "0.1.20", default-features = false, optional = true }
+jobserver = { version = "0.1.30", default-features = false, optional = true }
+once_cell = { version = "1.19", optional = true }
 
 [target.'cfg(unix)'.dependencies]
 # Don't turn on the feature "std" for this, see https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/issues/4866
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ jobserver = { version = "0.1.20", default-features = false, optional = true }
 libc = { version = "0.2.62", default-features = false, optional = true }
 
 [features]
-parallel = ["libc", "jobserver"]
+parallel = ["libc", "jobserver", "once_cell"]
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tempfile = "3"
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 4df12680..1830b9da 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1449,7 +1449,7 @@ impl Build {
         }
 
         // Limit our parallelism globally with a jobserver.
-        let tokens = parallel::job_token::ActiveJobTokenServer::new()?;
+        let tokens = parallel::job_token::ActiveJobTokenServer::new();
 
         // When compiling objects in parallel we do a few dirty tricks to speed
         // things up:
diff --git a/src/parallel/job_token.rs b/src/parallel/job_token.rs
index 17b2d47d..31dbfe83 100644
--- a/src/parallel/job_token.rs
+++ b/src/parallel/job_token.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
-use std::{marker::PhantomData, mem::MaybeUninit, sync::Once};
+use std::marker::PhantomData;
 
 use crate::Error;
 
+use once_cell::sync::OnceCell;
+
 pub(crate) struct JobToken(PhantomData<()>);
 
 impl JobToken {
@@ -35,18 +37,13 @@ impl JobTokenServer {
     ///    compilation.
     fn new() -> &'static Self {
         // TODO: Replace with a OnceLock once MSRV is 1.70
-        static INIT: Once = Once::new();
-        static mut JOBSERVER: MaybeUninit<JobTokenServer> = MaybeUninit::uninit();
-
-        unsafe {
-            INIT.call_once(|| {
-                let server = inherited_jobserver::JobServer::from_env()
-                    .map(Self::Inherited)
-                    .unwrap_or_else(|| Self::InProcess(inprocess_jobserver::JobServer::new()));
-                JOBSERVER.write(server);
-            });
-            JOBSERVER.assume_init_ref()
-        }
+        static JOBSERVER: OnceCell<JobTokenServer> = OnceCell::new();
+
+        JOBSERVER.get_or_init(|| {
+            unsafe { inherited_jobserver::JobServer::from_env() }
+                .map(Self::Inherited)
+                .unwrap_or_else(|| Self::InProcess(inprocess_jobserver::JobServer::new()))
+        })
     }
 }
 
@@ -56,14 +53,12 @@ pub(crate) enum ActiveJobTokenServer {
 }
 
 impl ActiveJobTokenServer {
-    pub(crate) fn new() -> Result<Self, Error> {
+    pub(crate) fn new() -> Self {
         match JobTokenServer::new() {
             JobTokenServer::Inherited(inherited_jobserver) => {
-                inherited_jobserver.enter_active().map(Self::Inherited)
-            }
-            JobTokenServer::InProcess(inprocess_jobserver) => {
-                Ok(Self::InProcess(inprocess_jobserver))
+                Self::Inherited(inherited_jobserver.enter_active())
             }
+            JobTokenServer::InProcess(inprocess_jobserver) => Self::InProcess(inprocess_jobserver),
         }
     }
 
@@ -76,7 +71,7 @@ impl ActiveJobTokenServer {
 }
 
 mod inherited_jobserver {
-    use super::JobToken;
+    use super::{JobToken, OnceCell};
 
     use crate::{parallel::async_executor::YieldOnce, Error, ErrorKind};
 
@@ -139,31 +134,39 @@ mod inherited_jobserver {
             }
         }
 
-        pub(super) fn enter_active(&self) -> Result<ActiveJobServer<'_>, Error> {
-            ActiveJobServer::new(self)
+        pub(super) fn enter_active(&self) -> ActiveJobServer<'_> {
+            ActiveJobServer {
+                jobserver: self,
+                helper_thread: OnceCell::new(),
+            }
         }
     }
 
-    pub(crate) struct ActiveJobServer<'a> {
-        jobserver: &'a JobServer,
-        helper_thread: jobserver::HelperThread,
+    struct HelperThread {
+        inner: jobserver::HelperThread,
         /// When rx is dropped, all the token stored within it will be dropped.
         rx: mpsc::Receiver<io::Result<jobserver::Acquired>>,
     }
 
-    impl<'a> ActiveJobServer<'a> {
-        fn new(jobserver: &'a JobServer) -> Result<Self, Error> {
+    impl HelperThread {
+        fn new(jobserver: &JobServer) -> Result<Self, Error> {
             let (tx, rx) = mpsc::channel();
 
             Ok(Self {
                 rx,
-                helper_thread: jobserver.inner.clone().into_helper_thread(move |res| {
+                inner: jobserver.inner.clone().into_helper_thread(move |res| {
                     let _ = tx.send(res);
                 })?,
-                jobserver,
             })
         }
+    }
+
+    pub(crate) struct ActiveJobServer<'a> {
+        jobserver: &'a JobServer,
+        helper_thread: OnceCell<HelperThread>,
+    }
 
+    impl<'a> ActiveJobServer<'a> {
         pub(super) async fn acquire(&self) -> Result<JobToken, Error> {
             let mut has_requested_token = false;
 
@@ -173,26 +176,38 @@ mod inherited_jobserver {
                     break Ok(JobToken::new());
                 }
 
-                // Cold path, no global implicit token, obtain one
-                match self.rx.try_recv() {
-                    Ok(res) => {
-                        let acquired = res?;
+                match self.jobserver.inner.try_acquire() {
+                    Ok(Some(acquired)) => {
                         acquired.drop_without_releasing();
                         break Ok(JobToken::new());
                     }
-                    Err(mpsc::TryRecvError::Disconnected) => {
-                        break Err(Error::new(
-                            ErrorKind::JobserverHelpThreadError,
-                            "jobserver help thread has returned before ActiveJobServer is dropped",
-                        ))
-                    }
-                    Err(mpsc::TryRecvError::Empty) => {
-                        if !has_requested_token {
-                            self.helper_thread.request_token();
-                            has_requested_token = true;
+                    Ok(None) => YieldOnce::default().await,
+                    Err(err) if err.kind() == io::ErrorKind::Unsupported => {
+                        // Fallback to creating a help thread with blocking acquire
+                        let helper_thread = self
+                            .helper_thread
+                            .get_or_try_init(|| HelperThread::new(&self.jobserver))?;
+
+                        match helper_thread.rx.try_recv() {
+                            Ok(res) => {
+                                let acquired = res?;
+                                acquired.drop_without_releasing();
+                                break Ok(JobToken::new());
+                            }
+                            Err(mpsc::TryRecvError::Disconnected) => break Err(Error::new(
+                                ErrorKind::JobserverHelpThreadError,
+                                "jobserver help thread has returned before ActiveJobServer is dropped",
+                            )),
+                            Err(mpsc::TryRecvError::Empty) => {
+                                if !has_requested_token {
+                                    helper_thread.inner.request_token();
+                                    has_requested_token = true;
+                                }
+                                YieldOnce::default().await
+                            }
                         }
-                        YieldOnce::default().await
                     }
+                    Err(err) => break Err(err.into()),
                 }
             }
         }