diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
index 2bb80e330d..dc131939ed 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import json
 import pickle
 import codecs
 import hashserv
+import ctypes
 
 logger      = logging.getLogger("BitBake")
 collectlog  = logging.getLogger("BitBake.Collection")
@@ -1998,8 +1999,9 @@ class ParsingFailure(Exception):
         Exception.__init__(self, realexception, recipe)
 
 class Parser(multiprocessing.Process):
-    def __init__(self, jobs, results, quit, profile):
+    def __init__(self, jobs, next_job_id, results, quit, profile):
         self.jobs = jobs
+        self.next_job_id = next_job_id
         self.results = results
         self.quit = quit
         multiprocessing.Process.__init__(self)
@@ -2065,10 +2067,14 @@ class Parser(multiprocessing.Process):
                     break
 
                 job = None
-                try:
-                    job = self.jobs.pop()
-                except IndexError:
-                    havejobs = False
+                if havejobs:
+                    with self.next_job_id.get_lock():
+                        if self.next_job_id.value < len(self.jobs):
+                            job = self.jobs[self.next_job_id.value]
+                            self.next_job_id.value += 1
+                        else:
+                            havejobs = False
+
                 if job:
                     result = self.parse(*job)
                     # Clear the siggen cache after parsing to control memory usage, its huge
@@ -2134,13 +2140,13 @@ class CookerParser(object):
 
         self.bb_caches = bb.cache.MulticonfigCache(self.cfgbuilder, self.cfghash, cooker.caches_array)
         self.fromcache = set()
-        self.willparse = set()
+        self.willparse = []
         for mc in self.cooker.multiconfigs:
             for filename in self.mcfilelist[mc]:
                 appends = self.cooker.collections[mc].get_file_appends(filename)
                 layername = self.cooker.collections[mc].calc_bbfile_priority(filename)[2]
                 if not self.bb_caches[mc].cacheValid(filename, appends):
-                    self.willparse.add((mc, self.bb_caches[mc], filename, appends, layername))
+                    self.willparse.append((mc, self.bb_caches[mc], filename, appends, layername))
                 else:
                     self.fromcache.add((mc, self.bb_caches[mc], filename, appends, layername))
 
@@ -2159,18 +2165,18 @@ class CookerParser(object):
     def start(self):
         self.results = self.load_cached()
         self.processes = []
+
         if self.toparse:
             bb.event.fire(bb.event.ParseStarted(self.toparse), self.cfgdata)
 
+            next_job_id = multiprocessing.Value(ctypes.c_int, 0)
             self.parser_quit = multiprocessing.Event()
             self.result_queue = multiprocessing.Queue()
 
-            def chunkify(lst,n):
-                return [lst[i::n] for i in range(n)]
-            self.jobs = chunkify(list(self.willparse), self.num_processes)
-
+            # Have to pass in willparse at fork time so all parsing processes have the unpickleable data
+            # then access it by index from the parse queue.
             for i in range(0, self.num_processes):
-                parser = Parser(self.jobs[i], self.result_queue, self.parser_quit, self.cooker.configuration.profile)
+                parser = Parser(self.willparse, next_job_id, self.result_queue, self.parser_quit, self.cooker.configuration.profile)
                 parser.start()
                 self.process_names.append(parser.name)
                 self.processes.append(parser)