diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/monitoring.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/monitoring.sgml
index 62f2a3332bd..bf7625d9889 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/monitoring.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/monitoring.sgml
@@ -3422,7 +3422,7 @@ SELECT pid, wait_event_type, wait_event FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE wait_event i
        <structfield>last_archived_wal</structfield> <type>text</type>
       </para>
       <para>
-       Name of the last WAL file successfully archived
+       Name of the WAL file most recently successfully archived
       </para></entry>
      </row>
 
@@ -3431,7 +3431,7 @@ SELECT pid, wait_event_type, wait_event FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE wait_event i
        <structfield>last_archived_time</structfield> <type>timestamp with time zone</type>
       </para>
       <para>
-       Time of the last successful archive operation
+       Time of the most recent successful archive operation
       </para></entry>
      </row>
 
@@ -3449,7 +3449,7 @@ SELECT pid, wait_event_type, wait_event FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE wait_event i
        <structfield>last_failed_wal</structfield> <type>text</type>
       </para>
       <para>
-       Name of the WAL file of the last failed archival operation
+       Name of the WAL file of the most recent failed archival operation
       </para></entry>
      </row>
 
@@ -3458,7 +3458,7 @@ SELECT pid, wait_event_type, wait_event FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE wait_event i
        <structfield>last_failed_time</structfield> <type>timestamp with time zone</type>
       </para>
       <para>
-       Time of the last failed archival operation
+       Time of the most recent failed archival operation
       </para></entry>
      </row>
 
@@ -3474,6 +3474,15 @@ SELECT pid, wait_event_type, wait_event FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE wait_event i
    </tgroup>
   </table>
 
+  <para>
+    Normally, WAL files are archived in order, oldest to newest, but that is
+    not guaranteed, and does not hold under special circumstances like when
+    promoting a standby or after crash recovery. Therefore it is not safe to
+    assume that all files older than
+    <structfield>last_archived_wal</structfield> have also been successfully
+    archived.
+  </para>
+
  </sect2>
 
  <sect2 id="monitoring-pg-stat-bgwriter-view">
diff --git a/src/test/recovery/t/028_pitr_timelines.pl b/src/test/recovery/t/028_pitr_timelines.pl
index c0b76fe37b2..a8b12d9af6e 100644
--- a/src/test/recovery/t/028_pitr_timelines.pl
+++ b/src/test/recovery/t/028_pitr_timelines.pl
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ use File::Compare;
 # Initialize and start primary node with WAL archiving
 my $node_primary = PostgreSQL::Test::Cluster->new('primary');
 $node_primary->init(has_archiving => 1, allows_streaming => 1);
-$node_primary->append_conf('postgresql.conf', 'log_min_messages=debug1');
 $node_primary->start;
 
 # Take a backup.
@@ -70,7 +69,6 @@ $node_standby->init_from_backup(
 	has_archiving => 1,
 	has_restoring => 0);
 $node_standby->append_conf('postgresql.conf', 'archive_mode = always');
-$node_standby->append_conf('postgresql.conf', 'log_min_messages=debug1');
 $node_standby->start;
 $node_primary->wait_for_catchup($node_standby);
 
@@ -93,15 +91,8 @@ my $walfile_to_be_archived = $node_standby->safe_psql('postgres',
 # Make WAL segment eligible for archival
 $node_standby->safe_psql('postgres', 'SELECT pg_switch_wal()');
 
-# Wait until the WAL segment has been archived.
-my $archive_wait_query =
-  "SELECT '$walfile_to_be_archived' <= last_archived_wal FROM pg_stat_archiver;";
-$node_standby->poll_query_until('postgres', $archive_wait_query)
-  or die "Timed out while waiting for WAL segment to be archived";
-my $last_archived_wal_file = $walfile_to_be_archived;
-
-# Ok, the standby has now archived the WAL on timeline 2.  We don't
-# need the standby anymore.
+# We don't need the standby anymore, request shutdown. The server will
+# finish archiving all the WAL on timeline 2 before it exits.
 $node_standby->stop;
 
 # Contents of the WAL archive at this point: