diff --git a/.arclint b/.arclint
--- a/.arclint
+++ b/.arclint
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@
         },
         "shellcheck": {
             "type": "shellcheck",
+            "version": ">=0.7.0",
             "flags": [
                 "--external-sources",
                 "--source-path=SCRIPTDIR"
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@
 
 On Ubuntu (>= 18.04+updates) or Debian (>= 10):
 ```
-sudo apt-get install clang-format-8 clang-tidy-8 clang-tools-8 cppcheck python-autopep8 flake8 php-codesniffer shellcheck
+sudo apt-get install clang-format-8 clang-tidy-8 clang-tools-8 cppcheck python-autopep8 flake8 php-codesniffer
 ```
 
 If not available in the distribution, `clang-format-8` and `clang-tidy` can be
@@ -144,6 +144,19 @@
 ln -s $PWD/clang+llvm-8.0.0-x86_64-apple-darwin/bin/clang-tidy /usr/local/bin/clang-tidy
 ```
 
+If you are modifying a shell script, you will need to install the `shellcheck` linter.
+A recent version is required and may not be packaged for your distribution.
+Standalone binaries are available for download on the project's github release page:
+https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/releases
+
+If you are running Debian 10, it is also available in the backports repository:
+```
+echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
+sudo apt-get update
+sudo apt-get -t buster-backports install shellcheck
+```
+
+
 Working with The Bitcoin ABC Repository
 ---------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/arcanist/linter/ShellCheckLinter.php b/arcanist/linter/ShellCheckLinter.php
--- a/arcanist/linter/ShellCheckLinter.php
+++ b/arcanist/linter/ShellCheckLinter.php
@@ -48,6 +48,17 @@
     return true;
   }
 
+  public function getVersion() {
+    list($stdout) = execx('%C --version', $this->getExecutableCommand());
+
+    $regex = '/^version: (?P<version>\d+\.\d+\.\d+)/m';
+    if (preg_match($regex, $stdout, $matches)) {
+      return $matches['version'];
+    }
+
+    return false;
+  }
+
   protected function getMandatoryFlags() {
     return array(
       '--format=gcc',
diff --git a/contrib/teamcity/setup-debian-buster.sh b/contrib/teamcity/setup-debian-buster.sh
--- a/contrib/teamcity/setup-debian-buster.sh
+++ b/contrib/teamcity/setup-debian-buster.sh
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@
   qemu-user-static
   qttools5-dev
   qttools5-dev-tools
-  shellcheck
   software-properties-common
   tar
   wget
@@ -78,6 +77,14 @@
 apt-get update
 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y $(join_by ' ' "${PACKAGES[@]}")
 
+BACKPORTS=(
+  shellcheck
+)
+
+echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
+apt-get update
+DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -t buster-backports install -y $(join_by ' ' "${BACKPORTS[@]}")
+
 TEAMCITY_DIR=$(dirname "$0")
 
 # FIXME this should no longer be needed starting with Teamcity 2020.1, which