diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_resetxlog.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_resetxlog.sgml
index fd9d0be6f44..9758fa652a2 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_resetxlog.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_resetxlog.sgml
@@ -281,6 +281,11 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
    <command>pg_resetxlog</command> to run.  But before you do
    so, make doubly certain that there is no server process still alive.
   </para>
+
+  <para>
+   <command>pg_resetxlog</command> works only with servers of the same
+   major version.
+  </para>
  </refsect1>
 
  <refsect1>
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_resetxlog/pg_resetxlog.c b/src/bin/pg_resetxlog/pg_resetxlog.c
index 3ffff22daab..fdd75044de8 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_resetxlog/pg_resetxlog.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_resetxlog/pg_resetxlog.c
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ static MultiXactOffset set_mxoff = (MultiXactOffset) -1;
 static uint32 minXlogTli = 0;
 static XLogSegNo minXlogSegNo = 0;
 
+static void CheckDataVersion(void);
 static bool ReadControlFile(void);
 static void GuessControlValues(void);
 static void PrintControlValues(bool guessed);
@@ -320,6 +321,9 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		exit(1);
 	}
 
+	/* Check that data directory matches our server version */
+	CheckDataVersion();
+
 	/*
 	 * Check for a postmaster lock file --- if there is one, refuse to
 	 * proceed, on grounds we might be interfering with a live installation.
@@ -453,6 +457,70 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 }
 
 
+/*
+ * Look at the version string stored in PG_VERSION and decide if this utility
+ * can be run safely or not.
+ *
+ * We don't want to inject pg_control and WAL files that are for a different
+ * major version; that can't do anything good.  Note that we don't treat
+ * mismatching version info in pg_control as a reason to bail out, because
+ * recovering from a corrupted pg_control is one of the main reasons for this
+ * program to exist at all.  However, PG_VERSION is unlikely to get corrupted,
+ * and if it were it would be easy to fix by hand.  So let's make this check
+ * to prevent simple user errors.
+ */
+static void
+CheckDataVersion(void)
+{
+	const char *ver_file = "PG_VERSION";
+	FILE	   *ver_fd;
+	char		rawline[64];
+	int			len;
+
+	if ((ver_fd = fopen(ver_file, "r")) == NULL)
+	{
+		fprintf(stderr, _("%s: could not open file \"%s\" for reading: %s\n"),
+				progname, ver_file, strerror(errno));
+		exit(1);
+	}
+
+	/* version number has to be the first line read */
+	if (!fgets(rawline, sizeof(rawline), ver_fd))
+	{
+		if (!ferror(ver_fd))
+		{
+			fprintf(stderr, _("%s: unexpected empty file \"%s\"\n"),
+					progname, ver_file);
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			fprintf(stderr, _("%s: could not read file \"%s\": %s\n"),
+					progname, ver_file, strerror(errno));
+		}
+		exit(1);
+	}
+
+	/* remove trailing newline, handling Windows newlines as well */
+	len = strlen(rawline);
+	if (len > 0 && rawline[len - 1] == '\n')
+	{
+		rawline[--len] = '\0';
+		if (len > 0 && rawline[len - 1] == '\r')
+			rawline[--len] = '\0';
+	}
+
+	if (strcmp(rawline, PG_MAJORVERSION) != 0)
+	{
+		fprintf(stderr, _("%s: data directory is of wrong version\n"
+						  "File \"%s\" contains \"%s\", which is not compatible with this program's version \"%s\".\n"),
+				progname, ver_file, rawline, PG_MAJORVERSION);
+		exit(1);
+	}
+
+	fclose(ver_fd);
+}
+
+
 /*
  * Try to read the existing pg_control file.
  *
@@ -522,7 +590,7 @@ ReadControlFile(void)
 	}
 
 	/* Looks like it's a mess. */
-	fprintf(stderr, _("%s: pg_control exists but is broken or unknown version; ignoring it\n"),
+	fprintf(stderr, _("%s: pg_control exists but is broken or wrong version; ignoring it\n"),
 			progname);
 	return false;
 }