diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 4baba3c..ecd8445 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 
+new features:
+	new address options shut-none, shut-down, and shut-close allow to
+	control socat's half close behaviour
+
 ####################### V 1.7.0.1:
 
 corrections:
diff --git a/doc/socat.yo b/doc/socat.yo
index e06a908..870a87e 100644
--- a/doc/socat.yo
+++ b/doc/socat.yo
@@ -1481,6 +1481,15 @@ label(OPTION_END_CLOSE)dit(bf(tt(end-close)))
    Similarly, when an address of type EXEC or SYSTEM is ended, socat usually
    will explicitely kill the sub process. With this option, it will just close
    the file descriptors.
+label(OPTION_SHUT_NONE)dit(bf(tt(shut-none)))
+   Changes the (address dependent) method of shutting down the write part of a
+   connection to not do anything.
+label(OPTION_SHUT_DOWN)dit(bf(tt(shut-down)))
+   Changes the (address dependent) method of shutting down the write part of a
+   connection to tt(shutdown\(fd, SHUT_WR)). Is only useful with sockets.
+label(OPTION_SHUT_CLOSE)dit(bf(tt(shut-close)))
+   Changes the (address dependent) method of shutting down the write part of a
+   connection to tt(close\(fd)).
 label(OPTION_IOCTL_VOID)dit(bf(tt(ioctl-void=<request>)))
    Calls tt(ioctl()) with the request value as second argument and NULL as
    third argument. This option allows to utilize ioctls that are not
diff --git a/xio-fd.c b/xio-fd.c
index 53d6415..504babd 100644
--- a/xio-fd.c
+++ b/xio-fd.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* source: xio-fd.c */
-/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2008 */
+/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2009 */
 /* Published under the GNU General Public License V.2, see file COPYING */
 
 /* this file contains common file descriptor related option definitions */
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ const struct optdesc opt_cool_write = { "cool-write", "coolwrite", OPT_COOL_WRIT
 
 /* control closing of connections */
 const struct optdesc opt_end_close = { "end-close", "close", OPT_END_CLOSE, GROUP_FD, PH_INIT, TYPE_CONST, OFUNC_OFFSET, (bool)&((xiofile_t *)0)->stream.howtoend, END_CLOSE };
+const struct optdesc opt_shut_none = { "shut-none", NULL,    OPT_SHUT_NONE,  GROUP_FD, PH_INIT, TYPE_BOOL,  OFUNC_OFFSET, (bool)&((xiofile_t *)0)->stream.howtoshut, XIOSHUT_NONE };
+const struct optdesc opt_shut_down = { "shut-down", NULL,    OPT_SHUT_DOWN,  GROUP_FD, PH_INIT, TYPE_BOOL,  OFUNC_OFFSET, (bool)&((xiofile_t *)0)->stream.howtoshut, XIOSHUT_DOWN };
+const struct optdesc opt_shut_close= { "shut-close", NULL,   OPT_SHUT_CLOSE, GROUP_FD, PH_INIT, TYPE_BOOL,  OFUNC_OFFSET, (bool)&((xiofile_t *)0)->stream.howtoshut, XIOSHUT_CLOSE };
 
 /****** generic ioctl() options ******/
 const struct optdesc opt_ioctl_void   = { "ioctl-void",  "ioctl",    OPT_IOCTL_VOID,  GROUP_FD, PH_FD, TYPE_INT,       OFUNC_IOCTL_GENERIC, 0, 0, 0 };
diff --git a/xio-fd.h b/xio-fd.h
index d664212..87a3d24 100644
--- a/xio-fd.h
+++ b/xio-fd.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* source: xio-fd.h */
-/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2008 */
+/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2009 */
 /* Published under the GNU General Public License V.2, see file COPYING */
 
 #ifndef __xio_fd_h_included
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ extern const struct optdesc opt_f_setlk_wr;
 extern const struct optdesc opt_f_setlkw_wr;
 extern const struct optdesc opt_cool_write;
 extern const struct optdesc opt_end_close;
+extern const struct optdesc opt_shut_none;
+extern const struct optdesc opt_shut_down;
+extern const struct optdesc opt_shut_close;
 extern const struct optdesc opt_streams_i_push;
 
 #endif /* !defined(__xio_fd_h_included) */
diff --git a/xio.h b/xio.h
index 8bc17ca..be7e46f 100644
--- a/xio.h
+++ b/xio.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* source: xio.h */
-/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2008 */
+/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2009 */
 /* Published under the GNU General Public License V.2, see file COPYING */
 
 #ifndef __xio_h_included
@@ -146,6 +146,12 @@ typedef struct single {
    bool   opt_unlink_close;	/* option unlink_close */
    char  *unlink_close;	/* name of a symlink or unix socket to be removed */
    int dtype;
+   enum {
+      XIOSHUT_UNSPEC,	/* fall back to old (up to 1.7.0.0) behaviour */
+      XIOSHUT_NONE,	/* do nothing on shutdown */
+      XIOSHUT_CLOSE,	/* close the FD */
+      XIOSHUT_DOWN	/* shutdown() */
+   } howtoshut;
    enum {
       END_UNSPEC,	/* after init, when no end-close... option */
       END_NONE,		/* no action */
diff --git a/xioopts.c b/xioopts.c
index a5578ee..67127c9 100644
--- a/xioopts.c
+++ b/xioopts.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* source: xioopts.c */
-/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2008 */
+/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2009 */
 /* Published under the GNU General Public License V.2, see file COPYING */
 
 /* this file contains the source for address options handling */
@@ -1313,6 +1313,9 @@ const struct optname optionnames[] = {
 	IF_SOCKET ("setsockopt-string",	&opt_setsockopt_string)
 	IF_ANY    ("setuid",	&opt_setuid)
 	IF_ANY    ("setuid-early",	&opt_setuid_early)
+	IF_ANY    ("shut-close",	&opt_shut_close)
+	IF_ANY    ("shut-down",	&opt_shut_down)
+	IF_ANY    ("shut-none",	&opt_shut_none)
 #if WITH_EXEC || WITH_SYSTEM
 	IF_ANY    ("sid",	&opt_setsid)
 #endif
diff --git a/xioopts.h b/xioopts.h
index db61752..613ea24 100644
--- a/xioopts.h
+++ b/xioopts.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* source: xioopts.h */
-/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2008 */
+/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2009 */
 /* Published under the GNU General Public License V.2, see file COPYING */
 
 #ifndef __xioopts_h_included
@@ -590,6 +590,9 @@ enum e_optcode {
    OPT_SETSOCKOPT_STRING,
    OPT_SETUID,
    OPT_SETUID_EARLY,
+   OPT_SHUT_CLOSE,
+   OPT_SHUT_DOWN,
+   OPT_SHUT_NONE,
    OPT_SIGHUP,
    OPT_SIGINT,
    OPT_SIGQUIT,
diff --git a/xioshutdown.c b/xioshutdown.c
index 30d3adf..a66bba5 100644
--- a/xioshutdown.c
+++ b/xioshutdown.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* source: xioshutdown.c */
-/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2008 */
+/* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2009 */
 /* Published under the GNU General Public License V.2, see file COPYING */
 
 /* this is the source of the extended shutdown function */
@@ -31,9 +31,29 @@ int xioshutdown(xiofile_t *sock, int how) {
       if ((how+1)&2) {
 	 result |= xioshutdown((xiofile_t *)sock->dual.stream[1], 1);
       }
+      return result;
+   }
+
+   switch (sock->stream.howtoshut) {
+   case XIOSHUT_NONE:
+      return 0;
+   case XIOSHUT_CLOSE:
+      if (Close(sock->stream.fd) < 0) {
+	 Info2("close(%d): %s",
+	       sock->stream.fd, strerror(errno));
+      }
+      return 0;
+   case XIOSHUT_DOWN:
+      if ((result = Shutdown(sock->stream.fd, how)) < 0) {
+	 Info3("shutdown(%d, %d): %s",
+	       sock->stream.fd, how, strerror(errno));
+      }
+      return 0;
+   default: ;
+   }
 
 #if WITH_OPENSSL
-   } else if ((sock->stream.dtype & XIODATA_MASK) == XIODATA_OPENSSL) {
+   if ((sock->stream.dtype & XIODATA_MASK) == XIODATA_OPENSSL) {
       sycSSL_shutdown (sock->stream.para.openssl.ssl);
       /*! what about half/full close? */
 #endif /* WITH_OPENSSL */