diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_context.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_context.c
index 9f9369d3c0004..249bd36f14019 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_context.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_context.c
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@
 #include <linux/log2.h>
 #include <linux/nospec.h>
 
+#include <drm/drm_syncobj.h>
+
 #include "gt/gen6_ppgtt.h"
 #include "gt/intel_context.h"
 #include "gt/intel_context_param.h"
@@ -224,10 +226,6 @@ static void intel_context_set_gem(struct intel_context *ce,
 		ce->vm = vm;
 	}
 
-	GEM_BUG_ON(ce->timeline);
-	if (ctx->timeline)
-		ce->timeline = intel_timeline_get(ctx->timeline);
-
 	if (ctx->sched.priority >= I915_PRIORITY_NORMAL &&
 	    intel_engine_has_timeslices(ce->engine))
 		__set_bit(CONTEXT_USE_SEMAPHORES, &ce->flags);
@@ -351,9 +349,6 @@ void i915_gem_context_release(struct kref *ref)
 	mutex_destroy(&ctx->engines_mutex);
 	mutex_destroy(&ctx->lut_mutex);
 
-	if (ctx->timeline)
-		intel_timeline_put(ctx->timeline);
-
 	put_pid(ctx->pid);
 	mutex_destroy(&ctx->mutex);
 
@@ -570,6 +565,9 @@ static void context_close(struct i915_gem_context *ctx)
 	if (vm)
 		i915_vm_close(vm);
 
+	if (ctx->syncobj)
+		drm_syncobj_put(ctx->syncobj);
+
 	ctx->file_priv = ERR_PTR(-EBADF);
 
 	/*
@@ -765,33 +763,11 @@ static void __assign_ppgtt(struct i915_gem_context *ctx,
 		i915_vm_close(vm);
 }
 
-static void __set_timeline(struct intel_timeline **dst,
-			   struct intel_timeline *src)
-{
-	struct intel_timeline *old = *dst;
-
-	*dst = src ? intel_timeline_get(src) : NULL;
-
-	if (old)
-		intel_timeline_put(old);
-}
-
-static void __apply_timeline(struct intel_context *ce, void *timeline)
-{
-	__set_timeline(&ce->timeline, timeline);
-}
-
-static void __assign_timeline(struct i915_gem_context *ctx,
-			      struct intel_timeline *timeline)
-{
-	__set_timeline(&ctx->timeline, timeline);
-	context_apply_all(ctx, __apply_timeline, timeline);
-}
-
 static struct i915_gem_context *
 i915_gem_create_context(struct drm_i915_private *i915, unsigned int flags)
 {
 	struct i915_gem_context *ctx;
+	int ret;
 
 	if (flags & I915_CONTEXT_CREATE_FLAGS_SINGLE_TIMELINE &&
 	    !HAS_EXECLISTS(i915))
@@ -820,16 +796,13 @@ i915_gem_create_context(struct drm_i915_private *i915, unsigned int flags)
 	}
 
 	if (flags & I915_CONTEXT_CREATE_FLAGS_SINGLE_TIMELINE) {
-		struct intel_timeline *timeline;
-
-		timeline = intel_timeline_create(&i915->gt);
-		if (IS_ERR(timeline)) {
+		ret = drm_syncobj_create(&ctx->syncobj,
+					 DRM_SYNCOBJ_CREATE_SIGNALED,
+					 NULL);
+		if (ret) {
 			context_close(ctx);
-			return ERR_CAST(timeline);
+			return ERR_PTR(ret);
 		}
-
-		__assign_timeline(ctx, timeline);
-		intel_timeline_put(timeline);
 	}
 
 	trace_i915_context_create(ctx);
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_context_types.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_context_types.h
index 676592e27e7d2..df76767f0c41b 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_context_types.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_context_types.h
@@ -83,7 +83,19 @@ struct i915_gem_context {
 	struct i915_gem_engines __rcu *engines;
 	struct mutex engines_mutex; /* guards writes to engines */
 
-	struct intel_timeline *timeline;
+	/**
+	 * @syncobj: Shared timeline syncobj
+	 *
+	 * When the SHARED_TIMELINE flag is set on context creation, we
+	 * emulate a single timeline across all engines using this syncobj.
+	 * For every execbuffer2 call, this syncobj is used as both an in-
+	 * and out-fence.  Unlike the real intel_timeline, this doesn't
+	 * provide perfect atomic in-order guarantees if the client races
+	 * with itself by calling execbuffer2 twice concurrently.  However,
+	 * if userspace races with itself, that's not likely to yield well-
+	 * defined results anyway so we choose to not care.
+	 */
+	struct drm_syncobj *syncobj;
 
 	/**
 	 * @vm: unique address space (GTT)
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_execbuffer.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_execbuffer.c
index 73acc65d25bad..7b7897242a837 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_execbuffer.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_execbuffer.c
@@ -3479,6 +3479,16 @@ i915_gem_do_execbuffer(struct drm_device *dev,
 		goto err_vma;
 	}
 
+	if (unlikely(eb.gem_context->syncobj)) {
+		struct dma_fence *fence;
+
+		fence = drm_syncobj_fence_get(eb.gem_context->syncobj);
+		err = i915_request_await_dma_fence(eb.request, fence);
+		dma_fence_put(fence);
+		if (err)
+			goto err_ext;
+	}
+
 	if (in_fence) {
 		if (args->flags & I915_EXEC_FENCE_SUBMIT)
 			err = i915_request_await_execution(eb.request,
@@ -3536,6 +3546,12 @@ i915_gem_do_execbuffer(struct drm_device *dev,
 			fput(out_fence->file);
 		}
 	}
+
+	if (unlikely(eb.gem_context->syncobj)) {
+		drm_syncobj_replace_fence(eb.gem_context->syncobj,
+					  &eb.request->fence);
+	}
+
 	i915_request_put(eb.request);
 
 err_vma:
