diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_basebackup.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_basebackup.sgml
index c9dd62c..a298e5c 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_basebackup.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_basebackup.sgml
@@ -660,6 +660,14 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
   <title>Notes</title>
 
   <para>
+   At the beginning of the backup, a checkpoint needs to be written on the
+   server the backup is taken from.  Especially if the option
+   <literal>--checkpoint=fast</literal> is not used, this can take some time
+   during which <application>pg_basebackup</application> will be idle on the
+   server it is running on.
+  </para>
+
+  <para>
    The backup will include all files in the data directory and tablespaces,
    including the configuration files and any additional files placed in the
    directory by third parties, except certain temporary files managed by
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_basebackup.c b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_basebackup.c
index b6463fa..ae18c16 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_basebackup.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_basebackup.c
@@ -1754,6 +1754,9 @@ BaseBackup(void)
 	if (maxrate > 0)
 		maxrate_clause = psprintf("MAX_RATE %u", maxrate);
 
+	if (verbose)
+		fprintf(stderr, "%s: initiating base backup, waiting for checkpoint to complete\n", progname);
+
 	basebkp =
 		psprintf("BASE_BACKUP LABEL '%s' %s %s %s %s %s %s",
 				 escaped_label,
@@ -1771,6 +1774,9 @@ BaseBackup(void)
 		disconnect_and_exit(1);
 	}
 
+	if (verbose)
+		fprintf(stderr, "%s: checkpoint completed\n", progname);
+
 	/*
 	 * Get the starting xlog position
 	 */