diff --git a/run-command.c b/run-command.c
index b439c7974c..6bd16acb06 100644
--- a/run-command.c
+++ b/run-command.c
@@ -1586,6 +1586,14 @@ static int pp_start_one(struct parallel_processes *pp,
 	if (i == opts->processes)
 		BUG("bookkeeping is hard");
 
+	/*
+	 * By default, do not inherit stdin from the parent process - otherwise,
+	 * all children would share stdin! Users may overwrite this to provide
+	 * something to the child's stdin by having their 'get_next_task'
+	 * callback assign 0 to .no_stdin and an appropriate integer to .in.
+	 */
+	pp->children[i].process.no_stdin = 1;
+
 	code = opts->get_next_task(&pp->children[i].process,
 				   opts->ungroup ? NULL : &pp->children[i].err,
 				   opts->data,
@@ -1601,7 +1609,6 @@ static int pp_start_one(struct parallel_processes *pp,
 		pp->children[i].process.err = -1;
 		pp->children[i].process.stdout_to_stderr = 1;
 	}
-	pp->children[i].process.no_stdin = 1;
 
 	if (start_command(&pp->children[i].process)) {
 		if (opts->start_failure)