diff --git a/internal/tailer/logstream/pipestream.go b/internal/tailer/logstream/pipestream.go
index f8fbdb572..599119e3c 100644
--- a/internal/tailer/logstream/pipestream.go
+++ b/internal/tailer/logstream/pipestream.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ package logstream
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"io"
 	"os"
 	"sync"
 	"syscall"
@@ -46,7 +48,7 @@ func pipeOpen(pathname string) (*os.File, error) {
 	if IsStdinPattern(pathname) {
 		return os.Stdin, nil
 	}
-	// Open in nonblocking mode because the write end of the pipe may not have started yet.
+	// Open in nonblocking mode because the write end of the pipe may not have started yet; this also gives us the ability to set a read deadline when the context is cancelled. https://github.com/golang/go/issues/24842
 	fd, err := os.OpenFile(pathname, os.O_RDONLY|syscall.O_NONBLOCK, 0o600) // #nosec G304 -- path already validated by caller
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Warningf("pipeOpen(%s): open failed: %v", pathname, err)
@@ -99,6 +101,10 @@ func (ps *pipeStream) stream(ctx context.Context, wg *sync.WaitGroup, waker wake
 		SetReadDeadlineOnDone(ctx, fd)
 
 		for {
+			// Because we've opened in nonblocking mode, this Read can return
+			// straight away.  If there are no writers, it'll return EOF (per
+			// `pipe(7)` and `read(2)`.)  This is expected when `mtail` is
+			// starting at system init as the writer may not be ready yet.
 			n, err := fd.Read(b)
 			glog.V(2).Infof("stream(%s): read %d bytes, err is %v", ps.sourcename, n, err)
 
@@ -115,19 +121,23 @@ func (ps *pipeStream) stream(ctx context.Context, wg *sync.WaitGroup, waker wake
 				if err == nil && ctx.Err() == nil {
 					continue
 				}
-			} else if n == 0 {
+			} else if n == 0 && total > 0 {
 				// `pipe(7)` tells us "If all file descriptors referring to the
 				// write end of a pipe have been closed, then an attempt to
 				// read(2) from the pipe will see end-of-file (read(2) will
-				// return 0)."
+				// return 0)."  To avoid shutting down the stream at startup
+				// before any writer has connected to the fifo, condition on
+				// having read any bytes previously.
 				glog.V(2).Infof("stream(%s): exiting, 0 bytes read", ps.sourcename)
 				return
 			}
 
 			// Test to see if we should exit.
 			if IsExitableError(err) {
-				glog.V(2).Infof("stream(%s): exiting, stream has error %s", ps.sourcename, err)
-				return
+				if !(errors.Is(err, io.EOF) && total == 0) {
+					glog.V(2).Infof("stream(%s): exiting, stream has error %s", ps.sourcename, err)
+					return
+				}
 			}
 
 			// Wait for wakeup or termination.