diff --git a/include/linux/writeback.h b/include/linux/writeback.h
index da21d63f70e2..b8c9610c2313 100644
--- a/include/linux/writeback.h
+++ b/include/linux/writeback.h
@@ -364,7 +364,14 @@ void global_dirty_limits(unsigned long *pbackground, unsigned long *pdirty);
 unsigned long wb_calc_thresh(struct bdi_writeback *wb, unsigned long thresh);
 
 void wb_update_bandwidth(struct bdi_writeback *wb);
+
+/* Invoke balance dirty pages in async mode. */
+#define BDP_ASYNC 0x0001
+
 void balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited(struct address_space *mapping);
+int balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited_flags(struct address_space *mapping,
+		unsigned int flags);
+
 bool wb_over_bg_thresh(struct bdi_writeback *wb);
 
 typedef int (*writepage_t)(struct page *page, struct writeback_control *wbc,
diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c
index 90b1998c16a1..684ab599438a 100644
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c
+++ b/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -1554,8 +1554,8 @@ static inline void wb_dirty_limits(struct dirty_throttle_control *dtc)
  * If we're over `background_thresh' then the writeback threads are woken to
  * perform some writeout.
  */
-static void balance_dirty_pages(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
-				unsigned long pages_dirtied)
+static int balance_dirty_pages(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
+			       unsigned long pages_dirtied, unsigned int flags)
 {
 	struct dirty_throttle_control gdtc_stor = { GDTC_INIT(wb) };
 	struct dirty_throttle_control mdtc_stor = { MDTC_INIT(wb, &gdtc_stor) };
@@ -1575,6 +1575,7 @@ static void balance_dirty_pages(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 	struct backing_dev_info *bdi = wb->bdi;
 	bool strictlimit = bdi->capabilities & BDI_CAP_STRICTLIMIT;
 	unsigned long start_time = jiffies;
+	int ret = 0;
 
 	for (;;) {
 		unsigned long now = jiffies;
@@ -1803,6 +1804,10 @@ static void balance_dirty_pages(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 					  period,
 					  pause,
 					  start_time);
+		if (flags & BDP_ASYNC) {
+			ret = -EAGAIN;
+			break;
+		}
 		__set_current_state(TASK_KILLABLE);
 		wb->dirty_sleep = now;
 		io_schedule_timeout(pause);
@@ -1834,6 +1839,7 @@ static void balance_dirty_pages(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 		if (fatal_signal_pending(current))
 			break;
 	}
+	return ret;
 }
 
 static DEFINE_PER_CPU(int, bdp_ratelimits);
@@ -1854,28 +1860,18 @@ static DEFINE_PER_CPU(int, bdp_ratelimits);
  */
 DEFINE_PER_CPU(int, dirty_throttle_leaks) = 0;
 
-/**
- * balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited - balance dirty memory state
- * @mapping: address_space which was dirtied
- *
- * Processes which are dirtying memory should call in here once for each page
- * which was newly dirtied.  The function will periodically check the system's
- * dirty state and will initiate writeback if needed.
- *
- * Once we're over the dirty memory limit we decrease the ratelimiting
- * by a lot, to prevent individual processes from overshooting the limit
- * by (ratelimit_pages) each.
- */
-void balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited(struct address_space *mapping)
+int balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited_flags(struct address_space *mapping,
+					unsigned int flags)
 {
 	struct inode *inode = mapping->host;
 	struct backing_dev_info *bdi = inode_to_bdi(inode);
 	struct bdi_writeback *wb = NULL;
 	int ratelimit;
+	int ret = 0;
 	int *p;
 
 	if (!(bdi->capabilities & BDI_CAP_WRITEBACK))
-		return;
+		return ret;
 
 	if (inode_cgwb_enabled(inode))
 		wb = wb_get_create_current(bdi, GFP_KERNEL);
@@ -1915,9 +1911,27 @@ void balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited(struct address_space *mapping)
 	preempt_enable();
 
 	if (unlikely(current->nr_dirtied >= ratelimit))
-		balance_dirty_pages(wb, current->nr_dirtied);
+		balance_dirty_pages(wb, current->nr_dirtied, flags);
 
 	wb_put(wb);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+/**
+ * balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited - balance dirty memory state
+ * @mapping: address_space which was dirtied
+ *
+ * Processes which are dirtying memory should call in here once for each page
+ * which was newly dirtied.  The function will periodically check the system's
+ * dirty state and will initiate writeback if needed.
+ *
+ * Once we're over the dirty memory limit we decrease the ratelimiting
+ * by a lot, to prevent individual processes from overshooting the limit
+ * by (ratelimit_pages) each.
+ */
+void balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited(struct address_space *mapping)
+{
+	balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited_flags(mapping, 0);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited);
 
