diff --git a/src/libstd/fs/mod.rs b/src/libstd/fs/mod.rs
index 64ec025a5c423..cdf0132b28698 100644
--- a/src/libstd/fs/mod.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/fs/mod.rs
@@ -126,6 +126,14 @@ impl File {
         OpenOptions::new().write(true).create(true).truncate(true).open(path)
     }
 
+    /// Close the file.
+    ///
+    /// Use this function if you want to avoid panicking when the destructor of
+    /// the file is run.
+    pub fn close(self) -> io::Result<()> {
+        self.inner.close()
+    }
+
     /// Returns the original path that was used to open this file.
     pub fn path(&self) -> Option<&Path> {
         Some(&self.path)
@@ -262,8 +270,8 @@ impl OpenOptions {
     ///
     /// * Opening a file that does not exist with read access.
     /// * Attempting to open a file with access that the user lacks
-    ///   permissions for
-    /// * Filesystem-level errors (full disk, etc)
+    ///   permissions for.
+    /// * Filesystem-level errors (full disk, etc).
     pub fn open<P: AsPath + ?Sized>(&self, path: &P) -> io::Result<File> {
         let path = path.as_path();
         let inner = try!(fs_imp::File::open(path, &self.0));
@@ -273,7 +281,7 @@ impl OpenOptions {
         // tradition before the introduction of opendir(3).  We explicitly
         // reject it because there are few use cases.
         if cfg!(not(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "android"))) &&
-           try!(inner.file_attr()).is_dir() {
+            try!(inner.file_attr()).is_dir() {
             Err(Error::new(ErrorKind::InvalidInput, "is a directory", None))
         } else {
             Ok(File { path: path.to_path_buf(), inner: inner })
diff --git a/src/libstd/sys/unix/fd.rs b/src/libstd/sys/unix/fd.rs
index 327d117823ee3..89ce27629e75b 100644
--- a/src/libstd/sys/unix/fd.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/sys/unix/fd.rs
@@ -26,6 +26,26 @@ impl FileDesc {
         FileDesc { fd: fd }
     }
 
+    pub fn close(self) -> io::Result<()> {
+        let fd = self.fd;
+        // Don't run the destructor after running the `close` function.
+        unsafe { mem::forget(self) };
+
+        // Closing stdio file handles makes no sense, so never do it. Note that
+        // this is relied upon in the destructor.
+        if fd <= libc::STDERR_FILENO {
+            return Ok(());
+        }
+
+        // Also, note that closing the file descriptor is never retried on
+        // error. The reason for this is that if an error occurs, we don't
+        // actually know if the file descriptor was closed or not, and if we
+        // retried (for something like EINTR), we might close another valid
+        // file descriptor (opened after we closed ours).
+        try!(cvt(unsafe { libc::close(fd) }));
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     pub fn raw(&self) -> c_int { self.fd }
 
     /// Extract the actual filedescriptor without closing it.
@@ -60,14 +80,8 @@ impl AsInner<c_int> for FileDesc {
 
 impl Drop for FileDesc {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
-        // closing stdio file handles makes no sense, so never do it. Also, note
-        // that errors are ignored when closing a file descriptor. The reason
-        // for this is that if an error occurs we don't actually know if the
-        // file descriptor was closed or not, and if we retried (for something
-        // like EINTR), we might close another valid file descriptor (opened
-        // after we closed ours.
-        if self.fd > libc::STDERR_FILENO {
-            let _ = unsafe { libc::close(self.fd) };
-        }
+        // Close the file descriptor.
+        let fd = mem::replace(self, FileDesc::new(libc::STDIN_FILENO));
+        fd.close().unwrap();
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/libstd/sys/unix/fs2.rs b/src/libstd/sys/unix/fs2.rs
index 72e0b8dd36c66..b6c1c57b26a29 100644
--- a/src/libstd/sys/unix/fs2.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/sys/unix/fs2.rs
@@ -218,6 +218,10 @@ impl File {
         Ok(File(FileDesc::new(fd)))
     }
 
+    pub fn close(self) -> io::Result<()> {
+        self.0.close()
+    }
+
     pub fn file_attr(&self) -> io::Result<FileAttr> {
         let mut stat: libc::stat = unsafe { mem::zeroed() };
         try!(cvt(unsafe { libc::fstat(self.0.raw(), &mut stat) }));
diff --git a/src/libstd/sys/windows/handle.rs b/src/libstd/sys/windows/handle.rs
index 99de659be41ed..019138f450dda 100644
--- a/src/libstd/sys/windows/handle.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/sys/windows/handle.rs
@@ -10,9 +10,10 @@
 
 use prelude::v1::*;
 
-use libc::{self, HANDLE};
 use io;
 use io::ErrorKind;
+use libc::{self, HANDLE};
+use mem;
 use ptr;
 use sys::cvt;
 
@@ -26,6 +27,19 @@ impl Handle {
         Handle(handle)
     }
 
+    pub fn close(self) -> io::Result<()> {
+        let handle = self.0;
+        unsafe { mem::forget(self) };
+
+        // Don't try to close the invalid handle, this is relied upon in the destructor.
+        if handle == libc::INVALID_HANLE_VALUE {
+            return Ok(());
+        }
+
+        try!(cvt(unsafe { libc::CloseHandle(self.0); }));
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     pub fn raw(&self) -> HANDLE { self.0 }
 
     pub fn read(&self, buf: &mut [u8]) -> io::Result<usize> {
@@ -39,7 +53,8 @@ impl Handle {
 
 impl Drop for Handle {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
-        unsafe { let _ = libc::CloseHandle(self.0); }
+        let handle = mem::replace(self, Handle::new(libc::INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE));
+        handle.close().unwrap();
     }
 }