diff --git a/doc/configuration.txt b/doc/configuration.txt
index 7c87dc82f..a591a21f9 100644
--- a/doc/configuration.txt
+++ b/doc/configuration.txt
@@ -788,6 +788,8 @@ option forwardfor           X          X         X         X
 option httpchk              X          -         X         X
 [no] option http-server-
             close           X          X         X         X
+[no] option http-use-proxy-
+            header          X          X         X         -
 [no] option httpclose       X          X         X         X
 option httplog              X          X         X         X
 [no] option http_proxy      X          X         X         X
@@ -2623,6 +2625,35 @@ no option http-server-close
   See also : "option forceclose" and "option httpclose"
 
 
+option http-use-proxy-header
+[no] option http-use-proxy-header
+  Make use of non-standard Proxy-Connection header instead of Connection
+  May be used in sections :   defaults | frontend | listen | backend
+                                 yes   |    yes   |   yes  |   no
+  Arguments : none
+
+  While RFC2616 explicitly states that HTTP/1.1 agents must use the
+  Connection header to indicate their wish of persistent or non-persistent
+  connections, both browsers and proxies ignore this header for proxied
+  connections and make use of the undocumented, non-standard Proxy-Connection
+  header instead. The issue begins when trying to put a load balancer between
+  browsers and such proxies, because there will be a difference between what
+  haproxy understands and what the client and the proxy agree on.
+
+  By setting this option in a frontend, haproxy can automatically switch to use
+  that non-standard header if it sees proxied requests. A proxied request is
+  defined here as one where the URI begins with neither a '/' nor a '*'. The
+  choice of header only affects requests passing through proxies making use of
+  one of the "httpclose", "forceclose" and "http-server-close" options. Note
+  that this option can only be specified in a frontend and will affect the
+  request along its whole life.
+
+  This option should normally never be used, except in front of a proxy.
+
+  See also : "option httpclose", "option forceclose" and "option
+             http-server-close".
+
+
 option httpclose
 no option httpclose
   Enable or disable passive HTTP connection closing
diff --git a/include/types/proto_http.h b/include/types/proto_http.h
index ae4e1eb7d..3d38d57b2 100644
--- a/include/types/proto_http.h
+++ b/include/types/proto_http.h
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@
 #define TX_HDR_CONN_PRS	0x08000000	/* "connection" header already parsed (req or res), results below */
 #define TX_HDR_CONN_CLO	0x10000000	/* "Connection: close" was present at least once */
 #define TX_HDR_CONN_KAL	0x20000000	/* "Connection: keep-alive" was present at least once */
+#define TX_USE_PX_CONN	0x40000000	/* Use "Proxy-Connection" instead of "Connection" */
 
 
 /* The HTTP parser is more complex than it looks like, because we have to
diff --git a/include/types/proxy.h b/include/types/proxy.h
index c4fb50532..0571f1747 100644
--- a/include/types/proxy.h
+++ b/include/types/proxy.h
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@
 #define PR_O2_AS_M_ANY	0x00010000      /* mask covering all PR_O2_AS_M_* values */
 
 #define PR_O2_MYSQL_CHK 0x00020000      /* use MYSQL check for server health */
+#define PR_O2_USE_PXHDR 0x00040000      /* use Proxy-Connection for proxy requests */
 /* end of proxy->options2 */
 
 /* bits for sticking rules */
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index eea9d3e7d..109c0583d 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ static const struct cfg_opt cfg_opts2[] =
 	{ "tcp-smart-accept",             PR_O2_SMARTACC,  PR_CAP_FE, 0 },
 	{ "tcp-smart-connect",            PR_O2_SMARTCON,  PR_CAP_BE, 0 },
 	{ "independant-streams",          PR_O2_INDEPSTR,  PR_CAP_FE|PR_CAP_BE, 0 },
+	{ "http-use-proxy-header",        PR_O2_USE_PXHDR, PR_CAP_FE, 0 },
 	{ NULL, 0, 0, 0 }
 };
 
diff --git a/src/proto_http.c b/src/proto_http.c
index 7cb4faa49..b3608d4e4 100644
--- a/src/proto_http.c
+++ b/src/proto_http.c
@@ -761,8 +761,14 @@ void perform_http_redirect(struct session *s, struct stream_interface *si)
 
 	memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, path, len);
 	rdr.len += len;
-	memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n", 23);
-	rdr.len += 23;
+
+	if (unlikely(txn->flags & TX_USE_PX_CONN)) {
+		memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\nProxy-Connection: close\r\n\r\n", 29);
+		rdr.len += 29;
+	} else {
+		memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n", 23);
+		rdr.len += 23;
+	}
 
 	/* prepare to return without error. */
 	si->shutr(si);
@@ -1849,13 +1855,20 @@ static int http_upgrade_v09_to_v10(struct buffer *req, struct http_msg *msg, str
 void http_parse_connection_header(struct http_txn *txn, struct http_msg *msg, struct buffer *buf, int to_del)
 {
 	struct hdr_ctx ctx;
+	const char *hdr_val = "Connection";
+	int hdr_len = 10;
 
 	if (txn->flags & TX_HDR_CONN_PRS)
 		return;
 
+	if (unlikely(txn->flags & TX_USE_PX_CONN)) {
+		hdr_val = "Proxy-Connection";
+		hdr_len = 16;
+	}
+
 	ctx.idx = 0;
 	txn->flags &= ~(TX_CON_KAL_SET|TX_CON_CLO_SET);
-	while (http_find_header2("Connection", 10, msg->sol, &txn->hdr_idx, &ctx)) {
+	while (http_find_header2(hdr_val, hdr_len, msg->sol, &txn->hdr_idx, &ctx)) {
 		if (ctx.vlen >= 10 && word_match(ctx.line + ctx.val, ctx.vlen, "keep-alive", 10)) {
 			txn->flags |= TX_HDR_CONN_KAL;
 			if ((to_del & 2) && buf)
@@ -1884,11 +1897,19 @@ void http_parse_connection_header(struct http_txn *txn, struct http_msg *msg, st
 void http_change_connection_header(struct http_txn *txn, struct http_msg *msg, struct buffer *buf, int wanted)
 {
 	struct hdr_ctx ctx;
+	const char *hdr_val = "Connection";
+	int hdr_len = 10;
 
 	ctx.idx = 0;
 
+
+	if (unlikely(txn->flags & TX_USE_PX_CONN)) {
+		hdr_val = "Proxy-Connection";
+		hdr_len = 16;
+	}
+
 	txn->flags &= ~(TX_CON_CLO_SET | TX_CON_KAL_SET);
-	while (http_find_header2("Connection", 10, msg->sol, &txn->hdr_idx, &ctx)) {
+	while (http_find_header2(hdr_val, hdr_len, msg->sol, &txn->hdr_idx, &ctx)) {
 		if (ctx.vlen >= 10 && word_match(ctx.line + ctx.val, ctx.vlen, "keep-alive", 10)) {
 			if (wanted & TX_CON_KAL_SET)
 				txn->flags |= TX_CON_KAL_SET;
@@ -1908,12 +1929,24 @@ void http_change_connection_header(struct http_txn *txn, struct http_msg *msg, s
 
 	if ((wanted & TX_CON_CLO_SET) && !(txn->flags & TX_CON_CLO_SET)) {
 		txn->flags |= TX_CON_CLO_SET;
-		http_header_add_tail2(buf, msg, &txn->hdr_idx, "Connection: close", 17);
+		hdr_val = "Connection: close";
+		hdr_len  = 17;
+		if (unlikely(txn->flags & TX_USE_PX_CONN)) {
+			hdr_val = "Proxy-Connection: close";
+			hdr_len = 23;
+		}
+		http_header_add_tail2(buf, msg, &txn->hdr_idx, hdr_val, hdr_len);
 	}
 
 	if ((wanted & TX_CON_KAL_SET) && !(txn->flags & TX_CON_KAL_SET)) {
 		txn->flags |= TX_CON_KAL_SET;
-		http_header_add_tail2(buf, msg, &txn->hdr_idx, "Connection: keep-alive", 22);
+		hdr_val = "Connection: keep-alive";
+		hdr_len = 22;
+		if (unlikely(txn->flags & TX_USE_PX_CONN)) {
+			hdr_val = "Proxy-Connection: keep-alive";
+			hdr_len = 28;
+		}
+		http_header_add_tail2(buf, msg, &txn->hdr_idx, hdr_val, hdr_len);
 	}
 	return;
 }
@@ -2541,6 +2574,19 @@ int http_wait_for_request(struct session *s, struct buffer *req, int an_bit)
 	/* "connection" has not been parsed yet */
 	txn->flags &= ~(TX_HDR_CONN_PRS | TX_HDR_CONN_CLO | TX_HDR_CONN_KAL);
 
+	/* if the frontend has "option http-use-proxy-header", we'll check if
+	 * we have what looks like a proxied connection instead of a connection,
+	 * and in this case set the TX_USE_PX_CONN flag to use Proxy-connection.
+	 * Note that this is *not* RFC-compliant, however browsers and proxies
+	 * happen to do that despite being non-standard :-(
+	 * We consider that a request not beginning with either '/' or '*' is
+	 * a proxied connection, which covers both "scheme://location" and
+	 * CONNECT ip:port.
+	 */
+	if ((s->fe->options2 & PR_O2_USE_PXHDR) &&
+	    msg->sol[msg->sl.rq.u] != '/' && msg->sol[msg->sl.rq.u] != '*')
+		txn->flags |= TX_USE_PX_CONN;
+
 	/* transfer length unknown*/
 	txn->flags &= ~TX_REQ_XFER_LEN;
 
@@ -2940,8 +2986,13 @@ int http_process_req_common(struct session *s, struct buffer *req, int an_bit, s
 			     (txn->flags & TX_CON_WANT_MSK) == TX_CON_WANT_KAL)) {
 				/* keep-alive possible */
 				if (!(txn->flags & TX_REQ_VER_11)) {
-					memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\nConnection: keep-alive", 24);
-					rdr.len += 24;
+					if (unlikely(txn->flags & TX_USE_PX_CONN)) {
+						memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\nProxy-Connection: keep-alive", 30);
+						rdr.len += 30;
+					} else {
+						memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\nConnection: keep-alive", 24);
+						rdr.len += 24;
+					}
 				}
 				memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\n\r\n", 4);
 				rdr.len += 4;
@@ -2956,8 +3007,13 @@ int http_process_req_common(struct session *s, struct buffer *req, int an_bit, s
 				break;
 			} else {
 				/* keep-alive not possible */
-				memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n", 23);
-				rdr.len += 23;
+				if (unlikely(txn->flags & TX_USE_PX_CONN)) {
+					memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\nProxy-Connection: close\r\n\r\n", 29);
+					rdr.len += 29;
+				} else {
+					memcpy(rdr.str + rdr.len, "\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n", 23);
+					rdr.len += 23;
+				}
 				stream_int_retnclose(req->prod, &rdr);
 				goto return_prx_cond;
 			}