diff --git a/xonsh/jobs.py b/xonsh/jobs.py
index 66e4e2e97..5cd849cda 100644
--- a/xonsh/jobs.py
+++ b/xonsh/jobs.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import subprocess
 import collections
 
 from xonsh.lazyasd import LazyObject
-from xonsh.platform import ON_DARWIN, ON_WINDOWS, ON_CYGWIN, LIBC
+from xonsh.platform import FD_STDERR, ON_DARWIN, ON_WINDOWS, ON_CYGWIN, LIBC
 from xonsh.tools import unthreadable
 
 
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ else:
             LIBC.sigprocmask(ctypes.c_int(signal.SIG_BLOCK),
                              ctypes.byref(mask),
                              ctypes.byref(omask))
-            LIBC.tcsetpgrp(ctypes.c_int(2), ctypes.c_int(pgid))
+            LIBC.tcsetpgrp(ctypes.c_int(FD_STDERR), ctypes.c_int(pgid))
             LIBC.sigprocmask(ctypes.c_int(signal.SIG_SETMASK),
                              ctypes.byref(omask), None)
             return True
@@ -135,8 +135,7 @@ else:
         def give_terminal_to(pgid):
             oldmask = signal.pthread_sigmask(signal.SIG_BLOCK,
                                              _block_when_giving)
-            # cannot use sys.stderr.fileno(), will cause `timeit ls` etc fail
-            os.tcsetpgrp(2, pgid)
+            os.tcsetpgrp(FD_STDERR, pgid)
             signal.pthread_sigmask(signal.SIG_SETMASK, oldmask)
             return True
 
diff --git a/xonsh/platform.py b/xonsh/platform.py
index d78f168b2..66747e94c 100644
--- a/xonsh/platform.py
+++ b/xonsh/platform.py
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ import subprocess
 import importlib.util
 
 from xonsh.lazyasd import LazyBool, lazyobject, lazybool
+# do not import any xonsh-modules here to avoid circular dependencies
+
+FD_STDIN = 0
+FD_STDOUT = 1
+FD_STDERR = 2
 
 
 @lazyobject
@@ -27,9 +32,6 @@ def distro():
     return d
 
 
-# do not import any xonsh-modules here to avoid circular dependencies
-
-
 #
 # OS
 #
@@ -176,6 +178,7 @@ def pathbasename(p):
     """
     return pathsplit(p)[-1]
 
+
 # termios tc(get|set)attr indexes.
 IFLAG = 0
 OFLAG = 1