diff --git a/src/parallel b/src/parallel
index 47da84b0..1d0d0600 100755
--- a/src/parallel
+++ b/src/parallel
@@ -1094,7 +1094,7 @@ sub read_args_from_command_line {
 		# Group of arguments on the command line.
 		# Put them into a file.
 		# Create argfile
-		my ($outfh,$name) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".arg", UNLINK => 1);
+		my ($outfh,$name) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".arg");
 		unlink($name);
 		# Put args into argfile
 		print $outfh map { $_,$/ } @group;
@@ -2429,7 +2429,7 @@ sub swap_activity {
         # As the command can take long to run if run remote
         # save it to a tmp file before moving it to the correct file
         my $file = $self->{'swap_activity_file'};
-        my ($dummy_fh, $tmpfile) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".swp", UNLINK => 1);
+        my ($dummy_fh, $tmpfile) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".swp");
         qx{ ($swap_activity > $tmpfile; mv $tmpfile $file) & };
     }
     return $self->{'swap_activity'};
@@ -2512,7 +2512,7 @@ sub loadavg {
         # As the command can take long to run if run remote
         # save it to a tmp file before moving it to the correct file
         my $file = $self->{'loadavg_file'};
-        my ($dummy_fh, $tmpfile) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".loa", UNLINK => 1);
+        my ($dummy_fh, $tmpfile) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".loa");
         qx{ ($uptime > $tmpfile && mv $tmpfile $file) & };
     }
     return $self->{'loadavg'};
@@ -3927,11 +3927,10 @@ sub start {
 	my ($outfh,$errfh,$name);
 	# To group we create temporary files for STDOUT and STDERR
 	# To avoid the cleanup unlink the files immediately (but keep them open)
-	my $unlink = $opt::files ? 0 : 1;
-	($outfh, $name) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".par", UNLINK => $unlink);
+	($outfh, $name) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".par");
 	$job->set_stdoutfilename($name);
-	$unlink and unlink $name;
-	($errfh, $name) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".par", UNLINK => $unlink);
+	$opt::files or unlink $name;
+	($errfh, $name) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".par");
 	unlink $name;
 
 	open OUT, '>&', $outfh or ::die_bug("Can't redirect STDOUT: $!");
@@ -3967,7 +3966,7 @@ sub start {
 	# Bug:
 	#   If the command does not read the first char, the temp file
 	#   is not deleted.
-        my ($dummy_fh, $tmpfile) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".chr", UNLINK => 1);
+        my ($dummy_fh, $tmpfile) = ::tempfile(SUFFIX => ".chr");
 	$command = qq{
              sh -c 'dd bs=1 count=1 of=$tmpfile 2>/dev/null';
              test \! -s "$tmpfile" && rm -f "$tmpfile" && exec true;
diff --git a/testsuite/tests-to-run/parallel-local164.sh b/testsuite/tests-to-run/parallel-local164.sh
index 58ff89dc..75601376 100644
--- a/testsuite/tests-to-run/parallel-local164.sh
+++ b/testsuite/tests-to-run/parallel-local164.sh
@@ -141,4 +141,7 @@ echo '### Negative replacement strings'
   parallel --colsep ' ' echo '{2} + {4} = {2} + {-1}=' '$(( {2} + {-1} ))' ::: "1 2 3 4"
   parallel --colsep ' ' echo '{-3}orrect' ::: "1 c 3 4"
 
+echo 'bug #38439: "open files" with --files --pipe blocks after a while'
+  ulimit -n 15; yes |head -n 10M | parallel-20120822 --pipe -k echo {#} of 21
+
 EOF
diff --git a/testsuite/wanted-results/parallel-local164 b/testsuite/wanted-results/parallel-local164
index fcd3719e..6bdb4cfb 100644
--- a/testsuite/wanted-results/parallel-local164
+++ b/testsuite/wanted-results/parallel-local164
@@ -237,3 +237,25 @@ correct
 correct
 2 + 4 = 2 + 4= 6
 correct
+bug #38439: "open files" with --files --pipe blocks after a while
+1 of 21
+2 of 21
+3 of 21
+4 of 21
+5 of 21
+6 of 21
+7 of 21
+8 of 21
+9 of 21
+10 of 21
+11 of 21
+12 of 21
+13 of 21
+14 of 21
+15 of 21
+16 of 21
+17 of 21
+18 of 21
+19 of 21
+20 of 21
+21 of 21