diff --git a/doc/man-sections/client-options.rst b/doc/man-sections/client-options.rst
index 73f1ea51..4c4a8707 100644
--- a/doc/man-sections/client-options.rst
+++ b/doc/man-sections/client-options.rst
@@ -198,6 +198,11 @@ configuration.
   When iterating through connection profiles, only consider profiles using
   protocol ``p`` (:code:`tcp` \| :code:`udp`).

+  Note that this specifically only affects the protocol, not the inet
+  family (i.e. IPv4 vs. IPv6). While the option actually accepts
+  values like :code:`udp6`, there is no difference to specifying
+  :code:`udp`.
+
 --pull
   This option must be used on a client which is connecting to a
   multi-client server. It indicates to OpenVPN that it should accept
diff --git a/doc/man-sections/link-options.rst b/doc/man-sections/link-options.rst
index cbc1e97b..0457727e 100644
--- a/doc/man-sections/link-options.rst
+++ b/doc/man-sections/link-options.rst
@@ -276,7 +276,10 @@ the local and the remote host.

 --proto p
   Use protocol ``p`` for communicating with remote host. ``p`` can be
-  :code:`udp`, :code:`tcp-client`, or :code:`tcp-server`.
+  :code:`udp`, :code:`tcp-client`, or :code:`tcp-server`. You can also
+  limit OpenVPN to use only IPv4 or only IPv6 by specifying ``p`` as
+  :code:`udp4`, :code:`tcp4-client`, :code:`tcp4-server` or :code:`udp6`,
+  :code:`tcp6-client`, :code:`tcp6-server`, respectively.

   The default protocol is :code:`udp` when ``--proto`` is not specified.

diff --git a/src/openvpn/options.c b/src/openvpn/options.c
index 1176a7c8..e7eba341 100644
--- a/src/openvpn/options.c
+++ b/src/openvpn/options.c
@@ -126,9 +126,11 @@ static const char usage_message[] =
     "--remote-random-hostname : Add a random string to remote DNS name.\n"
     "--mode m        : Major mode, m = 'p2p' (default, point-to-point) or 'server'.\n"
     "--proto p       : Use protocol p for communicating with peer.\n"
-    "                  p = udp (default), tcp-server, or tcp-client\n"
+    "                  p = udp (default), tcp-server, tcp-client\n"
+    "                      udp4, tcp4-server, tcp4-client\n"
+    "                      udp6, tcp6-server, tcp6-client\n"
     "--proto-force p : only consider protocol p in list of connection profiles.\n"
-    "                  p = udp6, tcp6-server, or tcp6-client (ipv6)\n"
+    "                  p = udp or tcp\n"
     "--connect-retry n [m] : For client, number of seconds to wait between\n"
     "                  connection retries (default=%d). On repeated retries\n"
     "                  the wait time is exponentially increased to a maximum of m\n"
@@ -2298,6 +2300,8 @@ options_postprocess_verify_ce(const struct options *options,
      */
     if (options->mode == MODE_SERVER)
     {
+#define USAGE_VALID_SERVER_PROTOS "--mode server currently only supports " \
+      "--proto values of udp, tcp-server, tcp4-server, or tcp6-server"
 #ifdef TARGET_ANDROID
         msg(M_FATAL, "--mode server not supported on Android");
 #endif
@@ -2315,15 +2319,14 @@ options_postprocess_verify_ce(const struct options *options,
         }
         if (!(proto_is_udp(ce->proto) || ce->proto == PROTO_TCP_SERVER))
         {
-            msg(M_USAGE, "--mode server currently only supports "
-                "--proto udp or --proto tcp-server or proto tcp6-server");
+            msg(M_USAGE, USAGE_VALID_SERVER_PROTOS);
         }
 #if PORT_SHARE
         if ((options->port_share_host || options->port_share_port)
             && (ce->proto != PROTO_TCP_SERVER))
         {
             msg(M_USAGE, "--port-share only works in TCP server mode "
-                "(--proto tcp-server or tcp6-server)");
+                "(--proto values of tcp-server, tcp4-server, or tcp6-server)");
         }
 #endif
         if (!options->tls_server)
@@ -2367,9 +2370,7 @@ options_postprocess_verify_ce(const struct options *options,
         }
         if (!(proto_is_dgram(ce->proto) || ce->proto == PROTO_TCP_SERVER))
         {
-            msg(M_USAGE,
-                "--mode server currently only supports --proto udp or --proto "
-                "tcp-server or --proto tcp6-server");
+            msg(M_USAGE, USAGE_VALID_SERVER_PROTOS);
         }
         if (!proto_is_udp(ce->proto) && (options->cf_max || options->cf_per))
         {
