Use a single select() for both key and slave input Previous code used two separate select() calls one after another, so that whenever it was running select() on one set of fds events in the other set would go unnoticed until later. Now there's a single select() which allows reacting immediately to any input source. The behavior of the new code differs somewhat from the old; for example multiple fds that stay readable are no longer handled in a round-robin fashion and the total amount the process sleeps can differ. Some tuning might be required later.