diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml
index 450383083d7..a10ae0c6227 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml
@@ -143,7 +143,8 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
        <para>
         Output commands to clean (drop)
         database objects prior to outputting the commands for creating them.
-        (Restore might generate some harmless errors.)
+        (Restore might generate some harmless error messages, if any objects
+        were not present in the destination database.)
        </para>
 
        <para>
@@ -161,8 +162,10 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
        <para>
         Begin the output with a command to create the
         database itself and reconnect to the created database.  (With a
-        script of this form, it doesn't matter which database you connect
-        to before running the script.)
+        script of this form, it doesn't matter which database in the
+        destination installation you connect to before running the script.)
+        If <option>--clean</option> is also specified, the script drops and
+        recreates the target database before reconnecting to it.
        </para>
 
        <para>
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml
index b276da6afe6..d4f61669b88 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml
@@ -109,6 +109,8 @@
       <listitem>
        <para>
         Clean (drop) database objects before recreating them.
+        (This might generate some harmless error messages, if any objects
+        were not present in the destination database.)
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
@@ -118,11 +120,16 @@
       <term><option>--create</option></term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
-        Create the database before restoring into it.  (When this
-        option is used, the database named with <option>-d</option> is
-        used only to issue the initial <command>CREATE DATABASE</>
-        command.  All data is restored into the database name that
-        appears in the archive.)
+        Create the database before restoring into it.
+        If <option>--clean</option> is also specified, drop and
+        recreate the target database before connecting to it.
+       </para>
+
+       <para>
+        When this option is used, the database named with <option>-d</option>
+        is used only to issue the initial <command>DROP DATABASE</> and
+        <command>CREATE DATABASE</> commands.  All data is restored into the
+        database name that appears in the archive.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup_archiver.c b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup_archiver.c
index 7f47a7c51a3..1fead285e96 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup_archiver.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup_archiver.c
@@ -303,15 +303,6 @@ RestoreArchive(Archive *AHX)
 	/*
 	 * Check for nonsensical option combinations.
 	 *
-	 * NB: createDB+dropSchema is useless because if you're creating the DB,
-	 * there's no need to drop individual items in it.  Moreover, if we tried
-	 * to do that then we'd issue the drops in the database initially
-	 * connected to, not the one we will create, which is very bad...
-	 */
-	if (ropt->createDB && ropt->dropSchema)
-		exit_horribly(modulename, "-C and -c are incompatible options\n");
-
-	/*
 	 * -C is not compatible with -1, because we can't create a database inside
 	 * a transaction block.
 	 */
@@ -456,7 +447,25 @@ RestoreArchive(Archive *AHX)
 		{
 			AH->currentTE = te;
 
-			/* We want anything that's selected and has a dropStmt */
+			/*
+			 * In createDB mode, issue a DROP *only* for the database as a
+			 * whole.  Issuing drops against anything else would be wrong,
+			 * because at this point we're connected to the wrong database.
+			 * Conversely, if we're not in createDB mode, we'd better not
+			 * issue a DROP against the database at all.
+			 */
+			if (ropt->createDB)
+			{
+				if (strcmp(te->desc, "DATABASE") != 0)
+					continue;
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				if (strcmp(te->desc, "DATABASE") == 0)
+					continue;
+			}
+
+			/* Otherwise, drop anything that's selected and has a dropStmt */
 			if (((te->reqs & (REQ_SCHEMA | REQ_DATA)) != 0) && te->dropStmt)
 			{
 				ahlog(AH, 1, "dropping %s %s\n", te->desc, te->tag);
@@ -938,9 +947,6 @@ PrintTOCSummary(Archive *AHX, RestoreOptions *ropt)
 
 	ahprintf(AH, ";\n;\n; Selected TOC Entries:\n;\n");
 
-	/* We should print DATABASE entries whether or not -C was specified */
-	ropt->createDB = 1;
-
 	curSection = SECTION_PRE_DATA;
 	for (te = AH->toc->next; te != AH->toc; te = te->next)
 	{