diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
index 66312b53b81..6c649336e16 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
@@ -3625,8 +3625,9 @@ include_dir 'conf.d'
         The library to use for archiving completed WAL file segments.  If set to
         an empty string (the default), archiving via shell is enabled, and
         <xref linkend="guc-archive-command"/> is used.  Otherwise, the specified
-        shared library is used for archiving.  For more information, see
-        <xref linkend="backup-archiving-wal"/> and
+        shared library is used for archiving. The WAL archiver process is
+        restarted by the postmaster when this parameter changes. For more
+        information, see <xref linkend="backup-archiving-wal"/> and
         <xref linkend="archive-modules"/>.
        </para>
        <para>
diff --git a/src/backend/postmaster/pgarch.c b/src/backend/postmaster/pgarch.c
index 3868cd7bd35..2670e41666a 100644
--- a/src/backend/postmaster/pgarch.c
+++ b/src/backend/postmaster/pgarch.c
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ static void pgarch_die(int code, Datum arg);
 static void HandlePgArchInterrupts(void);
 static int	ready_file_comparator(Datum a, Datum b, void *arg);
 static void LoadArchiveLibrary(void);
-static void call_archive_module_shutdown_callback(int code, Datum arg);
+static void pgarch_call_module_shutdown_cb(int code, Datum arg);
 
 /* Report shared memory space needed by PgArchShmemInit */
 Size
@@ -252,13 +252,7 @@ PgArchiverMain(void)
 	/* Load the archive_library. */
 	LoadArchiveLibrary();
 
-	PG_ENSURE_ERROR_CLEANUP(call_archive_module_shutdown_callback, 0);
-	{
-		pgarch_MainLoop();
-	}
-	PG_END_ENSURE_ERROR_CLEANUP(call_archive_module_shutdown_callback, 0);
-
-	call_archive_module_shutdown_callback(0, 0);
+	pgarch_MainLoop();
 
 	proc_exit(0);
 }
@@ -803,19 +797,14 @@ HandlePgArchInterrupts(void)
 
 		if (archiveLibChanged)
 		{
-			/*
-			 * Call the currently loaded archive module's shutdown callback,
-			 * if one is defined.
-			 */
-			call_archive_module_shutdown_callback(0, 0);
-
 			/*
 			 * Ideally, we would simply unload the previous archive module and
 			 * load the new one, but there is presently no mechanism for
 			 * unloading a library (see the comment above
 			 * internal_load_library()).  To deal with this, we simply restart
 			 * the archiver.  The new archive module will be loaded when the
-			 * new archiver process starts up.
+			 * new archiver process starts up.  Note that this triggers the
+			 * module's shutdown callback, if defined.
 			 */
 			ereport(LOG,
 					(errmsg("restarting archiver process because value of "
@@ -858,15 +847,15 @@ LoadArchiveLibrary(void)
 	if (ArchiveContext.archive_file_cb == NULL)
 		ereport(ERROR,
 				(errmsg("archive modules must register an archive callback")));
+
+	before_shmem_exit(pgarch_call_module_shutdown_cb, 0);
 }
 
 /*
- * call_archive_module_shutdown_callback
- *
- * Calls the loaded archive module's shutdown callback, if one is defined.
+ * Call the shutdown callback of the loaded archive module, if defined.
  */
 static void
-call_archive_module_shutdown_callback(int code, Datum arg)
+pgarch_call_module_shutdown_cb(int code, Datum arg)
 {
 	if (ArchiveContext.shutdown_cb != NULL)
 		ArchiveContext.shutdown_cb();
diff --git a/src/backend/postmaster/shell_archive.c b/src/backend/postmaster/shell_archive.c
index 8a54d02e7bb..71d567065a2 100644
--- a/src/backend/postmaster/shell_archive.c
+++ b/src/backend/postmaster/shell_archive.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 static bool shell_archive_configured(void);
 static bool shell_archive_file(const char *file, const char *path);
+static void shell_archive_shutdown(void);
 
 void
 shell_archive_init(ArchiveModuleCallbacks *cb)
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ shell_archive_init(ArchiveModuleCallbacks *cb)
 
 	cb->check_configured_cb = shell_archive_configured;
 	cb->archive_file_cb = shell_archive_file;
+	cb->shutdown_cb = shell_archive_shutdown;
 }
 
 static bool
@@ -156,3 +158,9 @@ shell_archive_file(const char *file, const char *path)
 	elog(DEBUG1, "archived write-ahead log file \"%s\"", file);
 	return true;
 }
+
+static void
+shell_archive_shutdown(void)
+{
+	elog(DEBUG1, "archiver process shutting down");
+}
diff --git a/src/test/recovery/t/020_archive_status.pl b/src/test/recovery/t/020_archive_status.pl
index 550fb37cb68..2108d50073a 100644
--- a/src/test/recovery/t/020_archive_status.pl
+++ b/src/test/recovery/t/020_archive_status.pl
@@ -234,4 +234,18 @@ ok( -f "$standby2_data/$segment_path_1_done"
 	".done files created after archive success with archive_mode=always on standby"
 );
 
+# Check that the archiver process calls the shell archive module's shutdown
+# callback.
+$standby2->append_conf('postgresql.conf', "log_min_messages = debug1");
+$standby2->reload;
+
+# Run a query to make sure that the reload has taken effect.
+$standby2->safe_psql('postgres', q{SELECT 1});
+my $log_location = -s $standby2->logfile;
+
+$standby2->stop;
+my $logfile = slurp_file($standby2->logfile, $log_location);
+ok( $logfile =~ qr/archiver process shutting down/,
+	'check shutdown callback of shell archive module');
+
 done_testing();