Index: include/boost/asio/error.hpp
===================================================================
--- include/boost/asio/error.hpp	(revision 11500)
+++ include/boost/asio/error.hpp	(working copy)
@@ -202,7 +202,8 @@
 
 inline const boost::system::error_category& get_system_category()
 {
-  return boost::system::system_category;
+  //we can't just return the value, we need to call the function that initializes the singleton
+  return boost::system::get_system_category();
 }
 
 #if !defined(BOOST_WINDOWS) && !defined(__CYGWIN__)
@@ -322,7 +323,7 @@
 } // namespace detail
 
 #if BOOST_WORKAROUND(BOOST_MSVC, < 1400)
-
+using boost::system::system_category;
 static const boost::system::error_category& system_category
   = boost::asio::error::detail::get_system_category();
 static const boost::system::error_category& netdb_category
Index: include/boost/asio/detail/pipe_select_interrupter.hpp
===================================================================
--- include/boost/asio/detail/pipe_select_interrupter.hpp	(revision 11500)
+++ include/boost/asio/detail/pipe_select_interrupter.hpp	(working copy)
@@ -47,6 +47,14 @@
       write_descriptor_ = pipe_fds[1];
       ::fcntl(write_descriptor_, F_SETFL, O_NONBLOCK);
     }
+    //This error case can easily occur is we open a lot of sockets all backed by
+    //different instances of io_service
+    else
+    {
+        boost::system::error_code ec(errno,
+            boost::asio::error::system_category);
+        throw boost::system::system_error(ec);
+    }
   }
 
   // Destructor.