For practically uniform entry conditions, the features of the steady laminar flow produced by a particular small distortion of the walls of a channel or pipe are shown to alter first from those of the corresponding external situation when the distortion is in an ‘adjustment zone’, sited a large distance O(R⅗l) from the inlet; R ([Gt ] 1) and l signify respectively a typical Reynolds number and length scale of the incompressible fluid motion. The planar channel flow there develops an extended triple-deck structure, with an unknown inviscid core motion bounded by two-tiered boundary layers near the walls. In three-dimensional pipe flow, where a similar structure occurs, the induced secondary motion has a jet-like nature close to the wall. The size and position of the indentation govern the flow properties within this adjustment regime and both can lead to large-scale effects being propagated. The most substantial effects occur if an indentation, interior blockage or bifurcation is sited just downstream of the adjustment stage in a channel. In a pipe, however, such a siting induces much less upstream influence, and instead the most significant long-scale disturbances are generated when the pipe is constricted asymmetrically over a small length. Vortex motion can then be provoked far beyond the constriction, the sense of rotation changing as the fluid moves further downstream, while upstream source-like secondary flow is found.