diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 3acc10663e..e9dc83a5b2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 git-annex (6.20180914) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
 
   [ Joey Hess ]
+  * Fixes a reversion in the last release that broke interoperation with
+    older versions of git-annex-shell.
   * S3: Fix url construction bug when the publicurl has been set to an url
     that does not end with a slash.
   * --debug shows urls accessed by git-annex, like it used to do when 
diff --git a/P2P/IO.hs b/P2P/IO.hs
index 59e75456ec..18971d9f3e 100644
--- a/P2P/IO.hs
+++ b/P2P/IO.hs
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ import Annex.ChangedRefs
 import Control.Monad.Free
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class
 import System.Exit (ExitCode(..))
-import System.IO.Error
 import Network.Socket
 import Control.Concurrent
 import Control.Concurrent.Async
@@ -160,11 +159,9 @@ runNet runst conn runner f = case f of
 			Left e -> return (Left (show e))
 			Right () -> runner next
 	ReceiveMessage next -> do
-		v <- liftIO $ tryIOError $ getProtocolLine (connIhdl conn)
+		v <- liftIO $ tryNonAsync $ getProtocolLine (connIhdl conn)
 		case v of
-			Left e
-				| isEOFError e -> runner (next (Just ProtocolEOF))
-				| otherwise -> return (Left (show e))
+			Left e -> return (Left (show e))
 			Right Nothing -> return (Left "protocol error")
 			Right (Just l) -> case parseMessage l of
 				Just m -> do
diff --git a/P2P/Protocol.hs b/P2P/Protocol.hs
index 29fe072ffd..49a3d5bf6f 100644
--- a/P2P/Protocol.hs
+++ b/P2P/Protocol.hs
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ data Message
 	| DATA Len -- followed by bytes of data
 	| VALIDITY Validity
 	| ERROR String
-	| ProtocolEOF
 	deriving (Show)
 
 instance Proto.Sendable Message where
@@ -109,7 +108,6 @@ instance Proto.Sendable Message where
 	formatMessage (VALIDITY Invalid) = ["INVALID"]
 	formatMessage (DATA len) = ["DATA", Proto.serialize len]
 	formatMessage (ERROR err) = ["ERROR", Proto.serialize err]
-	formatMessage (ProtocolEOF) = []
 
 instance Proto.Receivable Message where
 	parseCommand "AUTH" = Proto.parse2 AUTH
@@ -369,8 +367,6 @@ serverLoop :: (Message -> Proto (ServerHandler a)) -> Proto (Maybe a)
 serverLoop a = do
 	mcmd <- net receiveMessage
 	case mcmd of
-		-- Stop loop at EOF
-		Just ProtocolEOF -> return Nothing
 		-- When the client sends ERROR to the server, the server
 		-- gives up, since it's not clear what state the client
 		-- is in, and so not possible to recover.
diff --git a/doc/bugs/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished/comment_1_dd7883772bb37fa85aa1332633184071._comment b/doc/bugs/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished/comment_1_dd7883772bb37fa85aa1332633184071._comment
deleted file mode 100644
index da14d7c498..0000000000
--- a/doc/bugs/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished/comment_1_dd7883772bb37fa85aa1332633184071._comment
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-[[!comment format=mdwn
- username="joey"
- subject="""comment 1"""
- date="2018-09-25T17:18:14Z"
- content="""
-Ok, reproduced by downgrading git-annex, so it is a reversion in the
-fallback from p2pstdio.
-"""]]
diff --git a/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished.mdwn b/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished.mdwn
index 4602e24b81..570b12b970 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished.mdwn
@@ -64,3 +64,5 @@ so ssh connection seems to be ok
 what could it be?
 
 [[!meta author=yoh]]
+
+> [[fixed|done]] --[[Joey]]
diff --git a/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished/comment_10_dd7883772bb37fa85aa1332633184071._comment b/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished/comment_10_dd7883772bb37fa85aa1332633184071._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b4f18dade4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/bugs/get_over_ssh_fails_with___fd__58__19__58___hClose__58___resource_vanished/comment_10_dd7883772bb37fa85aa1332633184071._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="joey"
+ subject="""comment 1"""
+ date="2018-09-25T17:18:14Z"
+ content="""
+Ok, reproduced by downgrading git-annex, so it is a reversion in the
+fallback from p2pstdio.
+
+It is indeed caused by [[!commit b18fb1e343e9654207fbebacf686659c75d0fb4c]],
+because that adds a new ProtocolEOF value, and postAuth has a fallthrough
+case that tries to then send a ERROR message back over the connection, but
+by that time the pipe has closed.
+
+So that was an easy fix. I do still wonder how a system that displays
+/etc/issue or whatever to noninteractive logins could have ever worked with
+rsync or git-annex. But if that system doesn't work after this fix, it's an
+unrelated problem.
+"""]]