diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index dd7d1813b..b779d1619 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+	* close files in separate thread on systems where close() may block (Mac OS X for instance)
 	* don't create all directories up front when adding torrents
 	* support DHT scrape
 	* added support for fadvise/F_RDADVISE for improved disk read performance
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/config.hpp b/include/libtorrent/config.hpp
index 7aa60b7e9..6015fff37 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/config.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/config.hpp
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 #ifndef TORRENT_USE_ICONV
 #define TORRENT_USE_ICONV 0
 #define TORRENT_USE_LOCALE 0
+#define TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK 1
 #endif
 #endif
 #define TORRENT_HAS_FALLOCATE 0
@@ -311,6 +312,14 @@ inline int snprintf(char* buf, int len, char const* fmt, ...)
 #define TORRENT_USE_LOCALE 0
 #endif
 
+// set this to true if close() may block on your system
+// Mac OS X does this if the file being closed is not fully
+// allocated on disk yet for instance. When defined, the disk
+// I/O subsytem will use a separate thread for closing files
+#ifndef TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK
+#define TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK 0
+#endif
+
 #ifndef TORRENT_BROKEN_UNIONS
 #define TORRENT_BROKEN_UNIONS 0
 #endif
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/file_pool.hpp b/include/libtorrent/file_pool.hpp
index 6b1c51e3a..14ad433a8 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/file_pool.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/file_pool.hpp
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ namespace libtorrent
 {
 	struct TORRENT_EXPORT file_pool : boost::noncopyable
 	{
-		file_pool(int size = 40): m_size(size), m_low_prio_io(true) {}
+		file_pool(int size = 40);
+		~file_pool();
 
 		boost::intrusive_ptr<file> open_file(void* st, std::string const& p
 			, file_storage::iterator fe, file_storage const& fs, int m, error_code& ec);
@@ -64,7 +65,6 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		void set_low_prio_io(bool b) { m_low_prio_io = b; }
 
 	private:
-		file_pool(file_pool const&);
 
 		void remove_oldest();
 
@@ -86,6 +86,16 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		
 		file_set m_files;
 		mutex m_mutex;
+
+#if TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK
+		void closer_thread_fun();
+		mutex m_closer_mutex;
+		std::vector<boost::intrusive_ptr<file> > m_queued_for_close;
+		bool m_stop_thread;
+
+		// used to close files
+		thread m_closer_thread;
+#endif
 	};
 }
 
diff --git a/src/file_pool.cpp b/src/file_pool.cpp
index bea27a3ed..3f43515aa 100644
--- a/src/file_pool.cpp
+++ b/src/file_pool.cpp
@@ -40,6 +40,67 @@ POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
 namespace libtorrent
 {
+	
+	file_pool::file_pool(int size)
+		: m_size(size)
+		, m_low_prio_io(true)
+#if TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK
+		, m_stop_thread(false)
+		, m_closer_thread(boost::bind(&file_pool::closer_thread_fun, this))
+#endif
+	{}
+
+	file_pool::~file_pool()
+	{
+#if TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK
+		mutex::scoped_lock l(m_closer_mutex);
+		m_stop_thread = true;
+		l.unlock();
+		// wait for hte closer thread to finish closing all files
+		m_closer_thread.join();
+#endif
+	}
+
+#if TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK
+	void file_pool::closer_thread_fun()
+	{
+		for (;;)
+		{
+			mutex::scoped_lock l(m_closer_mutex);
+			if (m_stop_thread)
+			{
+				l.unlock();
+				m_queued_for_close.clear();
+				return;
+			}
+
+			// find a file that doesn't have any other threads referencing
+			// it. Since only those files can be closed in this thead
+			std::vector<boost::intrusive_ptr<file> >::iterator i = std::find_if(
+				m_queued_for_close.begin(), m_queued_for_close.end()
+				, boost::bind(&file::refcount, boost::bind(&boost::intrusive_ptr<file>::get, _1)) == 1);
+
+			if (i == m_queued_for_close.end())
+			{
+				l.unlock();
+				// none of the files are ready to be closet yet
+				// because they're still in use by other threads
+				// hold off for a while
+				sleep(1000);
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				// ok, first pull the file out of the queue, release the mutex
+				// (since closing the file may block) and then close it.
+				boost::intrusive_ptr<file> f = *i;
+				m_queued_for_close.erase(i);
+				l.unlock();
+				f->close();
+			}
+		}
+	}
+#endif
+
 	boost::intrusive_ptr<file> file_pool::open_file(void* st, std::string const& p
 		, file_storage::iterator fe, file_storage const& fs, int m, error_code& ec)
 	{
@@ -77,7 +138,15 @@ namespace libtorrent
 				// close the file before we open it with
 				// the new read/write privilages
 				TORRENT_ASSERT(e.file_ptr->refcount() == 1);
+
+#if TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK
+				mutex::scoped_lock l(m_closer_mutex);
+				m_queued_for_close.push_back(e.file_ptr);
+				l.unlock();
+				e.file_ptr = new file;
+#else
 				e.file_ptr->close();
+#endif
 				std::string full_path = combine_path(p, fs.file_path(*fe));
 				if (!e.file_ptr->open(full_path, m, ec))
 				{
@@ -133,6 +202,12 @@ namespace libtorrent
 			, boost::bind(&lru_file_entry::last_use, boost::bind(&file_set::value_type::second, _1))
 				< boost::bind(&lru_file_entry::last_use, boost::bind(&file_set::value_type::second, _2)));
 		if (i == m_files.end()) return;
+
+#if TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK
+		mutex::scoped_lock l(m_closer_mutex);
+		m_queued_for_close.push_back(i->second.file_ptr);
+		l.unlock();
+#endif
 		m_files.erase(i);
 	}
 
@@ -140,7 +215,14 @@ namespace libtorrent
 	{
 		mutex::scoped_lock l(m_mutex);
 		file_set::iterator i = m_files.find(std::make_pair(st, file_index));
-		if (i != m_files.end()) m_files.erase(i);
+		if (i == m_files.end()) return;
+		
+#if TORRENT_CLOSE_MAY_BLOCK
+		mutex::scoped_lock l2(m_closer_mutex);
+		m_queued_for_close.push_back(i->second.file_ptr);
+		l2.unlock();
+#endif
+		m_files.erase(i);
 	}
 
 	// closes files belonging to the specified