diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/tests/loop.py b/src/calibre/srv/tests/loop.py
index 1485d849ba..efd1034bf2 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/tests/loop.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/tests/loop.py
@@ -6,18 +6,20 @@ from __future__ import (unicode_literals, division, absolute_import,
 __license__ = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2015, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 
-import httplib, ssl, os
-from unittest import skipIf
+import httplib, ssl, os, subprocess, time, socket
+from unittest import skipIf, skipUnless
 
+from calibre.constants import islinux
 try:
     from calibre.utils.certgen import create_server_cert
 except ImportError:
     create_server_cert = None
 
+
 from calibre.srv.tests.base import BaseTest, TestServer
 from calibre.ptempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 
-HOST = 'localhost.test'
+SYSTEMD = '/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-activate'
 
 class LoopTest(BaseTest):
 
@@ -39,3 +41,34 @@ class LoopTest(BaseTest):
                 cert = conn.sock.getpeercert()
                 subject = dict(x[0] for x in cert['subject'])
                 self.ae(subject['commonName'], address)
+
+    @skipUnless(islinux and os.access(SYSTEMD, os.X_OK), 'systemd-activate not available')
+    def test_systemd(self):
+        'Test systemd socket activation'
+        s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM, 0)
+        s.bind(('localhost', 0))
+        port = s.getsockname()[1]
+        f = os.path.abspath(__file__).rstrip('c')
+        s.close()
+        p = subprocess.Popen([SYSTEMD, '-l', '127.0.0.1:%d' % port, 'calibre-debug', f], stdout=open(os.devnull, 'wb'), stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+        try:
+            conn = httplib.HTTPConnection('localhost', port, strict=True, timeout=1)
+            conn.request('GET', '/test', 'body')
+            r = conn.getresponse()
+            self.ae(r.status, httplib.OK)
+            self.ae(r.read(), b'testbody')
+            conn.request('GET', '/quit')
+            st = time.time()
+            while p.poll() is None and time.time() - st < 2:
+                time.sleep(0.01)
+        finally:
+            if p.poll() is None:
+                p.kill()
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    def handler(data):
+        if data.path and data.path[0] == 'quit':
+            raise SystemExit(0)
+        return (data.path[0] + data.read()) if data.path else ''
+    with TestServer(handler, allow_socket_preallocation=True) as server:
+        server.join()