diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index fe5ba3301..ce9044669 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 #Nmap Changelog ($Id$); -*-text-*-
 
+o Setting --host-timeout=0 will disable the host timeout, which is set by -T5
+  to 15 minutes. Earlier versions of Nmap require the user to specify a very
+  long timeout instead.
+
 o If a host times out, the XML <host> element will have the attribute
   timedout="true" and the host's timing info (srtt etc.) will still be printed.
 
diff --git a/docs/refguide.xml b/docs/refguide.xml
index a37ddb462..b1c89e317 100644
--- a/docs/refguide.xml
+++ b/docs/refguide.xml
@@ -2782,6 +2782,10 @@ scanning other hosts at the same time during that half an hour, so it isn't a co
 No port table, OS detection, or version detection results are printed
 for that host.</para>
 
+<para>The special value <literal>0</literal> can be used to mean <quote>no
+    timeout</quote>, which can be used to override the <option>T5</option>
+  timing template, which sets the host timeout to 15 minutes.</para>
+
         </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
 
@@ -2804,6 +2808,10 @@ for that host.</para>
 	  target host or port and the timeout period will be reset for
 	  the next instance.</para>
 
+<para>The special value <literal>0</literal> can be used to mean <quote>no
+    timeout</quote>, which can be used to override the <option>T5</option>
+  timing template, which sets the script timeout to 10 minutes.</para>
+
         </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
 
diff --git a/nmap.cc b/nmap.cc
index 1eb0b3aea..708034c05 100644
--- a/nmap.cc
+++ b/nmap.cc
@@ -712,8 +712,9 @@ void parse_options(int argc, char **argv) {
           }
         } else if (strcmp(long_options[option_index].name, "host-timeout") == 0) {
           l = tval2msecs(optarg);
-          if (l <= 0)
+          if (l < 0)
             fatal("Bogus --host-timeout argument specified");
+          // if (l == 0) this is the default "no timeout" value, overriding timing template
           if (l >= 10000 * 1000 && tval_unit(optarg) == NULL)
             fatal("Since April 2010, the default unit for --host-timeout is seconds, so your time of \"%s\" is %.1f hours. If this is what you want, use \"%ss\".", optarg, l / 1000.0 / 60 / 60, optarg);
           delayed_options.pre_host_timeout = l;
@@ -753,6 +754,7 @@ void parse_options(int argc, char **argv) {
           l = tval2msecs(optarg);
           if (l < 0)
             fatal("Bogus --scan-delay argument specified.");
+          // if (l == 0) this is the default "no delay" value, overriding timing template
           if (l >= 100 * 1000 && tval_unit(optarg) == NULL)
             fatal("Since April 2010, the default unit for --scan-delay is seconds, so your time of \"%s\" is %.1f minutes. Use \"%sms\" for %g milliseconds.", optarg, l / 1000.0 / 60, optarg, l / 1000.0);
           delayed_options.pre_scan_delay = l;