--- dvi.c.orig	2012-07-31 18:22:25.000000000 -0500
+++ dvi.c	2012-07-31 18:20:13.000000000 -0500
@@ -39,9 +39,14 @@
 #  define SLEEP   sleep(1)
 # endif /* WIN32 */
 #endif	/* MIKTEX */
+#include <unistd.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
 
 bool followmode=0;
+char temp_filename[32];
+FILE *pipe_fp = NULL;
+unsigned char pipe_buffer[512];
 
 bool DVIFollowToggle(void)
 {
@@ -51,9 +56,35 @@
 static unsigned char fgetc_follow(FILE* fp)
 {
   int got=fgetc(fp);
+  int count, pos, flags;
+  unsigned char onebyte;
 
   while(followmode && got==EOF) {
-    SLEEP;
+    clearerr(fp);
+    if ( pipe_fp ) {
+      /* Remember the current end-of-file position. */
+      pos = ftell(fp);
+      /* This first fread blocks until data is available.
+	 If it returns 0 the pipe has been closed.*/
+      count = fread(&onebyte, 1, 1, pipe_fp);
+      if (count == 0)
+	Fatal("DVI file ends prematurely");
+      else
+	fwrite(&onebyte, 1, 1, fp);
+      /* Now unblock the pipe and drain it out. */
+      flags = fcntl(fileno(pipe_fp), F_GETFL);
+      fcntl(fileno(pipe_fp), F_SETFL, O_NONBLOCK);
+      for (count=512; count == 512; ) {
+	count = fread(pipe_buffer, 1, 512, pipe_fp);
+	if ( count > 0 )
+	  fwrite(pipe_buffer, 1, count, fp);
+      }
+      fcntl(fileno(pipe_fp), F_SETFL, flags & ~O_NONBLOCK);
+      /* Reset the file pointer. */
+      fseek(fp, pos, SEEK_SET);
+    }
+    else
+      SLEEP;
     got=fgetc(fp);
   }
   if (got==EOF)
@@ -165,6 +196,20 @@
     exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
   }
   DEBUG_PRINT(DEBUG_DVI,("OPEN FILE\t%s", dvi->name));
+
+  {
+    /* Check if our dvi file is a fifo.  If so, open a temporary
+       buffer file and remember the fifo. */
+    struct stat dvi_stat;
+    fstat(fileno(dvi->filep), &dvi_stat);
+    if ( dvi_stat.st_mode & S_IFIFO ) {
+      Message(BE_NONQUIET,"Reading from fifo %s.\n", dvi->name);
+      pipe_fp = dvi->filep;
+      strcpy(temp_filename, "/tmp/tmp_dvipngXXXXXX");
+      dvi->filep = fdopen(mkstemp(temp_filename), "rb+");
+    }
+  }
+
   DVIInit(dvi);
   return(dvi);
 }