diff --git a/include/cutils/sockets.h b/include/cutils/sockets.h
index 2d3c743..c99d0aa 100644
--- a/include/cutils/sockets.h
+++ b/include/cutils/sockets.h
@@ -24,10 +24,20 @@
 #include <stdbool.h>
 
 #if defined(_WIN32)
+
 #include <winsock2.h>
+#include <ws2tcpip.h>
+
 typedef int  socklen_t;
+typedef SOCKET cutils_socket_t;
+
 #else
+
 #include <sys/socket.h>
+
+typedef int cutils_socket_t;
+#define INVALID_SOCKET (-1)
+
 #endif
 
 #define ANDROID_SOCKET_ENV_PREFIX	"ANDROID_SOCKET_"
@@ -45,7 +55,7 @@
  * This is inline and not in libcutils proper because we want to use this in
  * third-party daemons with minimal modification.
  */
-static inline int android_get_control_socket(const char *name)
+static inline int android_get_control_socket(const char* name)
 {
 	char key[64];
 	snprintf(key, sizeof(key), ANDROID_SOCKET_ENV_PREFIX "%s", name);
@@ -74,17 +84,44 @@
 // Normal filesystem namespace
 #define ANDROID_SOCKET_NAMESPACE_FILESYSTEM 2
 
-extern int socket_loopback_client(int port, int type);
-extern int socket_network_client(const char *host, int port, int type);
-extern int socket_network_client_timeout(const char *host, int port, int type,
-                                         int timeout, int* getaddrinfo_error);
-extern int socket_loopback_server(int port, int type);
-extern int socket_local_server(const char *name, int namespaceId, int type);
-extern int socket_local_server_bind(int s, const char *name, int namespaceId);
-extern int socket_local_client_connect(int fd, 
-        const char *name, int namespaceId, int type);
-extern int socket_local_client(const char *name, int namespaceId, int type);
-extern int socket_inaddr_any_server(int port, int type);
+/*
+ * Functions to create sockets for some common usages.
+ *
+ * All these functions are implemented for Unix, but only a few are implemented
+ * for Windows. Those which are can be identified by the cutils_socket_t
+ * return type. The idea is to be able to use this return value with the
+ * standard Unix socket functions on any platform.
+ *
+ * On Unix the returned cutils_socket_t is a standard int file descriptor and
+ * can always be used as normal with all file descriptor functions.
+ *
+ * On Windows utils_socket_t is an unsigned int pointer, and is only valid
+ * with functions that specifically take a socket, e.g. send(), sendto(),
+ * recv(), and recvfrom(). General file descriptor functions such as read(),
+ * write(), and close() will not work with utils_socket_t and will require
+ * special handling.
+ *
+ * These functions return INVALID_SOCKET (-1) on failure for all platforms.
+ */
+int socket_loopback_client(int port, int type);
+cutils_socket_t socket_network_client(const char* host, int port, int type);
+int socket_network_client_timeout(const char* host, int port, int type,
+                                  int timeout, int* getaddrinfo_error);
+int socket_loopback_server(int port, int type);
+int socket_local_server(const char* name, int namespaceId, int type);
+int socket_local_server_bind(int s, const char* name, int namespaceId);
+int socket_local_client_connect(int fd, const char *name, int namespaceId,
+                                int type);
+int socket_local_client(const char* name, int namespaceId, int type);
+cutils_socket_t socket_inaddr_any_server(int port, int type);
+
+/*
+ * Closes a cutils_socket_t. Windows doesn't allow calling close() on a socket
+ * so this is a cross-platform way to close a cutils_socket_t.
+ *
+ * Returns 0 on success.
+ */
+int socket_close(cutils_socket_t sock);
 
 /*
  * socket_peer_is_trusted - Takes a socket which is presumed to be a
@@ -101,4 +138,4 @@
 }
 #endif
 
-#endif /* __CUTILS_SOCKETS_H */ 
+#endif /* __CUTILS_SOCKETS_H */