diff --git a/include/proto/proto_tcp.h b/include/proto/proto_tcp.h
index 4adf4d2fa..ac8b71131 100644
--- a/include/proto/proto_tcp.h
+++ b/include/proto/proto_tcp.h
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 int tcp_bind_socket(int fd, int flags, struct sockaddr_storage *local, struct sockaddr_storage *remote);
 void tcpv4_add_listener(struct listener *listener);
 void tcpv6_add_listener(struct listener *listener);
+int tcp_pause_listener(struct listener *l);
 int tcp_connect_server(struct connection *conn, int data, int delack);
 int tcp_connect_probe(struct connection *conn);
 int tcp_get_src(int fd, struct sockaddr *sa, socklen_t salen, int dir);
diff --git a/include/types/protocol.h b/include/types/protocol.h
index e03692a35..74b20e8fa 100644
--- a/include/types/protocol.h
+++ b/include/types/protocol.h
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ struct protocol {
 	int (*get_src)(int fd, struct sockaddr *, socklen_t, int dir); /* syscall used to retrieve src addr */
 	int (*get_dst)(int fd, struct sockaddr *, socklen_t, int dir); /* syscall used to retrieve dst addr */
 	int (*drain)(int fd);                           /* indicates whether we can safely close the fd */
+	int (*pause)(struct listener *l);               /* temporarily pause this listener for a soft restart */
 
 	struct list listeners;				/* list of listeners using this protocol */
 	int nb_listeners;				/* number of listeners */
diff --git a/src/listener.c b/src/listener.c
index a82ce8109..67f8ca7d4 100644
--- a/src/listener.c
+++ b/src/listener.c
@@ -95,15 +95,16 @@ int pause_listener(struct listener *l)
 	if (l->state <= LI_PAUSED)
 		return 1;
 
-	if (l->proto->sock_prot == IPPROTO_TCP) {
-		if (shutdown(l->fd, SHUT_WR) != 0)
-			return 0; /* Solaris dies here */
+	if (l->proto->pause) {
+		/* Returns < 0 in case of failure, 0 if the listener
+		 * was totally stopped, or > 0 if correctly paused.
+		 */
+		int ret = l->proto->pause(l);
 
-		if (listen(l->fd, l->backlog ? l->backlog : l->maxconn) != 0)
-			return 0; /* OpenBSD dies here */
-
-		if (shutdown(l->fd, SHUT_RD) != 0)
-			return 0; /* should always be OK */
+		if (ret < 0)
+			return 0;
+		else if (ret == 0)
+			return 1;
 	}
 
 	if (l->state == LI_LIMITED)
diff --git a/src/proto_tcp.c b/src/proto_tcp.c
index e9dbc9c0b..977885647 100644
--- a/src/proto_tcp.c
+++ b/src/proto_tcp.c
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ static struct protocol proto_tcpv4 = {
 	.get_src = tcp_get_src,
 	.get_dst = tcp_get_dst,
 	.drain = tcp_drain,
+	.pause = tcp_pause_listener,
 	.listeners = LIST_HEAD_INIT(proto_tcpv4.listeners),
 	.nb_listeners = 0,
 };
@@ -102,6 +103,7 @@ static struct protocol proto_tcpv6 = {
 	.get_src = tcp_get_src,
 	.get_dst = tcp_get_dst,
 	.drain = tcp_drain,
+	.pause = tcp_pause_listener,
 	.listeners = LIST_HEAD_INIT(proto_tcpv6.listeners),
 	.nb_listeners = 0,
 };
@@ -947,6 +949,22 @@ void tcpv6_add_listener(struct listener *listener)
 	proto_tcpv6.nb_listeners++;
 }
 
+/* Pause a listener. Returns < 0 in case of failure, 0 if the listener
+ * was totally stopped, or > 0 if correctly paused.
+ */
+int tcp_pause_listener(struct listener *l)
+{
+	if (shutdown(l->fd, SHUT_WR) != 0)
+		return -1; /* Solaris dies here */
+
+	if (listen(l->fd, l->backlog ? l->backlog : l->maxconn) != 0)
+		return -1; /* OpenBSD dies here */
+
+	if (shutdown(l->fd, SHUT_RD) != 0)
+		return -1; /* should always be OK */
+	return 1;
+}
+
 /* This function performs the TCP request analysis on the current request. It
  * returns 1 if the processing can continue on next analysers, or zero if it
  * needs more data, encounters an error, or wants to immediately abort the