diff --git a/doio.c b/doio.c
index d0681ad6ccbe..d19a2a1a51f3 100644
--- a/doio.c
+++ b/doio.c
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ Perl_PerlLIO_dup_cloexec(pTHX_ int oldfd)
      * PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS builds.
      */
     DO_ONEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(
-        PL_strategy_dup,
+        PL_strategy.dup,
         fcntl(oldfd, F_DUPFD_CLOEXEC, 0),
         PerlLIO_dup(oldfd));
 #else
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ Perl_PerlLIO_dup2_cloexec(pTHX_ int oldfd, int newfd)
      * PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS builds.
      */
     DO_ONEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(
-        PL_strategy_dup2,
+        PL_strategy.dup2,
         dup3(oldfd, newfd, O_CLOEXEC),
         PerlLIO_dup2(oldfd, newfd));
 #else
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ Perl_PerlLIO_open_cloexec(pTHX_ const char *file, int flag)
     PERL_ARGS_ASSERT_PERLLIO_OPEN_CLOEXEC;
 #if defined(O_CLOEXEC)
     DO_ONEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(
-        PL_strategy_open,
+        PL_strategy.open,
         PerlLIO_open(file, flag | O_CLOEXEC),
         PerlLIO_open(file, flag));
 #else
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ Perl_PerlLIO_open3_cloexec(pTHX_ const char *file, int flag, int perm)
     PERL_ARGS_ASSERT_PERLLIO_OPEN3_CLOEXEC;
 #if defined(O_CLOEXEC)
     DO_ONEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(
-        PL_strategy_open3,
+        PL_strategy.open3,
         PerlLIO_open3(file, flag | O_CLOEXEC, perm),
         PerlLIO_open3(file, flag, perm));
 #else
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ static int Internal_Perl_my_mkstemp_cloexec(char *templte)
     PERL_ARGS_ASSERT_MY_MKSTEMP_CLOEXEC;
 #  if defined(O_CLOEXEC)
     DO_ONEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(
-	PL_strategy_mkstemp,
+	PL_strategy.mkstemp,
    	Perl_my_mkostemp(templte, O_CLOEXEC),
         Perl_my_mkstemp(templte));
 #  else
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ Perl_my_mkstemp_cloexec(char *templte)
     PERL_ARGS_ASSERT_MY_MKSTEMP_CLOEXEC;
 #  if defined(O_CLOEXEC)
     DO_ONEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(
-        PL_strategy_mkstemp,
+        PL_strategy.mkstemp,
         Perl_my_mkostemp(templte, O_CLOEXEC),
         Perl_my_mkstemp(templte));
 #  else
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ Perl_my_mkostemp_cloexec(char *templte, int flags)
     PERL_ARGS_ASSERT_MY_MKOSTEMP_CLOEXEC;
 #if defined(O_CLOEXEC)
     DO_ONEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(
-        PL_strategy_mkstemp,
+        PL_strategy.mkstemp,
         Perl_my_mkostemp(templte, flags | O_CLOEXEC),
         Perl_my_mkostemp(templte, flags));
 #else
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ Perl_PerlProc_pipe_cloexec(pTHX_ int *pipefd)
      * PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS builds.
      */
 #  if !defined(PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS) && defined(HAS_PIPE2) && defined(O_CLOEXEC)
-    DO_PIPEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(PL_strategy_pipe, pipefd,
+    DO_PIPEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(PL_strategy.pipe, pipefd,
         pipe2(pipefd, O_CLOEXEC),
         PerlProc_pipe(pipefd));
 #  else
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ Perl_PerlSock_socket_cloexec(pTHX_ int domain, int type, int protocol)
 {
 #  if defined(SOCK_CLOEXEC)
     DO_ONEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(
-        PL_strategy_socket,
+        PL_strategy.socket,
         PerlSock_socket(domain, type | SOCK_CLOEXEC, protocol),
         PerlSock_socket(domain, type, protocol));
 #  else
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ Perl_PerlSock_accept_cloexec(pTHX_ int listenfd, struct sockaddr *addr,
      * on PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS builds.
      */
     DO_ONEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(
-        PL_strategy_accept,
+        PL_strategy.accept,
         accept4(listenfd, addr, addrlen, SOCK_CLOEXEC),
         PerlSock_accept(listenfd, addr, addrlen));
 #  else
@@ -423,7 +423,7 @@ Perl_PerlSock_socketpair_cloexec(pTHX_ int domain, int type, int protocol,
 {
     PERL_ARGS_ASSERT_PERLSOCK_SOCKETPAIR_CLOEXEC;
 #  ifdef SOCK_CLOEXEC
-    DO_PIPEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(PL_strategy_socketpair, pairfd,
+    DO_PIPEOPEN_EXPERIMENTING_CLOEXEC(PL_strategy.socketpair, pairfd,
         PerlSock_socketpair(domain, type | SOCK_CLOEXEC, protocol, pairfd),
         PerlSock_socketpair(domain, type, protocol, pairfd));
 #  else
diff --git a/globvar.sym b/globvar.sym
index b9cea72af64b..798bc5f6857e 100644
--- a/globvar.sym
+++ b/globvar.sym
@@ -66,15 +66,7 @@ PL_sig_name
 PL_sig_num
 PL_simple
 PL_simple_bitmask
-PL_strategy_dup
-PL_strategy_dup2
-PL_strategy_open
-PL_strategy_open3
-PL_strategy_mkstemp
-PL_strategy_socket
-PL_strategy_accept
-PL_strategy_pipe
-PL_strategy_socketpair
+PL_strategy
 PL_strict_utf8_dfa_tab
 PL_subversion
 PL_utf8skip
diff --git a/perl.h b/perl.h
index 1154cb99dfaf..247119a6bdfb 100644
--- a/perl.h
+++ b/perl.h
@@ -5230,6 +5230,35 @@ EXTERN_C void PerlIO_teardown(void);
 #  define PERLIO_TERM
 #endif
 
+/* these record the best way to perform certain IO operations while
+ * atomically setting FD_CLOEXEC. On the first call, a probe is done
+ * and the result recorded for use by subsequent calls.
+ * In theory these variables aren't thread-safe, but the worst that can
+ * happen is that two threads will both do an initial probe or even less
+ * likley both ithreads will repeat the probe a couple times over the next
+ * 100 ms.
+ *
+ * If a cross platform atomic API gets added to perl.h, all reads and writes
+ * to PL_strategy need force a memory fence. Certain archs like ARM in SMP mode
+ * by design will never re-read or flush memory writes between their L2 cache
+ * central physical unless software commands the CPU core to do it.
+ *
+ * struct io_stategy {} can be reduced to a U32 with 18 bits if its known
+ * the CC guarentees (PL_strategy & 0xC == 0x8) is safe against sharding.
+ */
+
+struct io_strategy {
+    int strategy_dup;		/* doio.c */
+    int strategy_dup2;		/* doio.c */
+    int strategy_open;		/* doio.c */
+    int strategy_open3;		/* doio.c */
+    int strategy_mkstemp;	/* doio.c */
+    int strategy_socket;	/* doio.c */
+    int strategy_accept;	/* doio.c */
+    int strategy_pipe;		/* doio.c */
+    int strategy_socketpair;	/* doio.c */
+};
+
 #ifdef MYMALLOC
 #  ifdef MUTEX_INIT_CALLS_MALLOC
 #    define MALLOC_INIT					\
diff --git a/perlvars.h b/perlvars.h
index 7b0c01a43f30..ec7a5c25108c 100644
--- a/perlvars.h
+++ b/perlvars.h
@@ -400,21 +400,20 @@ PERLVAR(G, user_prop_mutex, perl_mutex)    /* Mutex for manipulating
  */
 PERLVARI(G, shutdownhook, shutdown_proc_t, &Perl_noshutdownhook)
 
-/* these record the best way to perform certain IO operations while
+/* This struct records the best way to perform certain IO operations while
  * atomically setting FD_CLOEXEC. On the first call, a probe is done
  * and the result recorded for use by subsequent calls.
  * In theory these variables aren't thread-safe, but the worst that can
  * happen is that two treads will both do an initial probe
+ *
+ * Boolean-like probe results for certain I/O operations and FD_CLOEXEC.
+ * Each flag has 3 states: enum CLOEXEC_EXPERIMENT (== 0), CLOEXEC_AT_OPEN,
+ * and CLOEXEC_AFTER_OPEN.
+ *
+ * doio.c is the only user of this var currently.  This variable is exported
+ * in case experimental XS code needs to perfectly replicate an IO pp_*() func.
  */
-PERLVARI(G, strategy_dup,        int, 0)	/* doio.c */
-PERLVARI(G, strategy_dup2,       int, 0)	/* doio.c */
-PERLVARI(G, strategy_open,       int, 0)	/* doio.c */
-PERLVARI(G, strategy_open3,      int, 0)	/* doio.c */
-PERLVARI(G, strategy_mkstemp,    int, 0)	/* doio.c */
-PERLVARI(G, strategy_socket,     int, 0)	/* doio.c */
-PERLVARI(G, strategy_accept,     int, 0)	/* doio.c */
-PERLVARI(G, strategy_pipe,       int, 0)	/* doio.c */
-PERLVARI(G, strategy_socketpair, int, 0)	/* doio.c */
+PERLVAR(G, strategy, struct io_strategy)
 
 PERLVARI(G, my_environ, char **, NULL)
 PERLVARI(G, origenviron, char **, NULL)