diff --git a/gclient.py b/gclient.py
index 7e6b878fc..d7f02091c 100644
--- a/gclient.py
+++ b/gclient.py
@@ -1197,8 +1197,8 @@ def Main(argv):
       options.entries_filename = options.config_filename + '_entries'
       if options.jobs < 1:
         parser.error('--jobs must be 1 or higher')
-      # Useful for --jobs.
-      options.stdout = sys.stdout
+      # Always autoflush so buildbot doesn't kill us during lengthy operations.
+      options.stdout = gclient_utils.StdoutAutoFlush(sys.stdout)
 
       # These hacks need to die.
       if not hasattr(options, 'revisions'):
diff --git a/gclient_utils.py b/gclient_utils.py
index d21ade51b..9d14bd255 100644
--- a/gclient_utils.py
+++ b/gclient_utils.py
@@ -285,6 +285,30 @@ def CheckCallAndFilterAndHeader(args, always=False, **kwargs):
   return CheckCallAndFilter(args, **kwargs)
 
 
+class StdoutAutoFlush(object):
+  """Automatically flush after N seconds."""
+  def __init__(self, stdout, delay=10):
+    self.lock = threading.Lock()
+    self.stdout = stdout
+    self.delay = delay
+    self.last_flushed_at = time.time()
+    self.stdout.flush()
+
+  def write(self, out):
+    """Thread-safe."""
+    self.stdout.write(out)
+    should_flush = False
+    with self.lock:
+      if (time.time() - self.last_flushed_at) > self.delay:
+        should_flush = True
+        self.last_flushed_at = time.time()
+    if should_flush:
+      self.stdout.flush()
+
+  def flush(self):
+    self.stdout.flush()
+
+
 def CheckCallAndFilter(args, stdout=None, filter_fn=None,
                        print_stdout=None, call_filter_on_first_line=False,
                        **kwargs):
@@ -308,7 +332,6 @@ def CheckCallAndFilter(args, stdout=None, filter_fn=None,
               **kwargs)
 
   # Do a flush of stdout before we begin reading from the subprocess's stdout
-  last_flushed_at = time.time()
   stdout.flush()
 
   # Also, we need to forward stdout to prevent weird re-ordering of output.
@@ -329,12 +352,6 @@ def CheckCallAndFilter(args, stdout=None, filter_fn=None,
         else:
           filter_fn(in_line)
           in_line = ''
-          # Flush at least 10 seconds between line writes.  We wait at least 10
-          # seconds to avoid overloading the reader that called us with output,
-          # which can slow busy readers down.
-          if (time.time() - last_flushed_at) > 10:
-            last_flushed_at = time.time()
-            stdout.flush()
       in_byte = kid.stdout.read(1)
     # Flush the rest of buffered output. This is only an issue with
     # stdout/stderr not ending with a \n.
diff --git a/tests/gclient_utils_test.py b/tests/gclient_utils_test.py
index 4b230cb21..1af302153 100755
--- a/tests/gclient_utils_test.py
+++ b/tests/gclient_utils_test.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ class GclientUtilsUnittest(GclientUtilBase):
         'GetGClientRootAndEntries', 'GetNamedNodeText',
         'GetNodeNamedAttributeText', 'PathDifference', 'ParseXML', 'Popen',
         'PrintableObject', 'RemoveDirectory', 'SplitUrlRevision',
-        'SyntaxErrorToError', 'WorkItem',
+        'StdoutAutoFlush', 'SyntaxErrorToError', 'WorkItem',
         'errno', 'logging', 'os', 're', 'stat', 'subprocess', 'sys',
         'threading', 'time', 'xml',
     ]