diff --git a/fs/btrfs/ctree.h b/fs/btrfs/ctree.h
index 72f5e1a..9e923c1 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/ctree.h
+++ b/fs/btrfs/ctree.h
@@ -2144,7 +2144,7 @@ int btrfs_check_data_free_space(struct inode *inode, u64 bytes);
 void btrfs_free_reserved_data_space(struct inode *inode, u64 bytes);
 int btrfs_trans_reserve_metadata(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 				struct btrfs_root *root,
-				int num_items, int *retries);
+				int num_items);
 void btrfs_trans_release_metadata(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 				struct btrfs_root *root);
 int btrfs_orphan_reserve_metadata(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
@@ -2165,7 +2165,7 @@ void btrfs_add_durable_block_rsv(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info,
 int btrfs_block_rsv_add(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 			struct btrfs_root *root,
 			struct btrfs_block_rsv *block_rsv,
-			u64 num_bytes, int *retries);
+			u64 num_bytes);
 int btrfs_block_rsv_check(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 			  struct btrfs_root *root,
 			  struct btrfs_block_rsv *block_rsv,
diff --git a/fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c b/fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c
index 265d8e0..13f723a 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c
@@ -3400,79 +3400,162 @@ static int shrink_delalloc(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	return reclaimed >= to_reclaim;
 }
 
-static int should_retry_reserve(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
-				struct btrfs_root *root,
-				struct btrfs_block_rsv *block_rsv,
-				u64 num_bytes, int *retries)
+/*
+ * Retries tells us how many times we've called reserve_metadata_bytes.  The
+ * idea is if this is the first call (retries == 0) then we will add to our
+ * reserved count if we can't make the allocation in order to hold our place
+ * while we go and try and free up space.  That way for retries > 1 we don't try
+ * and add space, we just check to see if the amount of unused space is >= the
+ * total space, meaning that our reservation is valid.
+ *
+ * However if we don't intend to retry this reservation, pass -1 as retries so
+ * that it short circuits this logic.
+ */
+static int reserve_metadata_bytes(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
+				  struct btrfs_root *root,
+				  struct btrfs_block_rsv *block_rsv,
+				  u64 orig_bytes)
 {
 	struct btrfs_space_info *space_info = block_rsv->space_info;
-	int ret;
-
-	if ((*retries) > 2)
-		return -ENOSPC;
+	u64 unused;
+	u64 num_bytes = orig_bytes;
+	int retries = 0;
+	int ret = 0;
+	bool reserved = false;
 
-	ret = maybe_allocate_chunk(trans, root, space_info, num_bytes);
-	if (ret)
-		return 1;
+again:
+	ret = -ENOSPC;
+	if (reserved)
+		num_bytes = 0;
 
-	if (trans && trans->transaction->in_commit)
-		return -ENOSPC;
+	spin_lock(&space_info->lock);
+	unused = space_info->bytes_used + space_info->bytes_reserved +
+		 space_info->bytes_pinned + space_info->bytes_readonly +
+		 space_info->bytes_may_use;
 
-	ret = shrink_delalloc(trans, root, num_bytes, 0);
-	if (ret)
-		return ret;
+	/*
+	 * The idea here is that we've not already over-reserved the block group
+	 * then we can go ahead and save our reservation first and then start
+	 * flushing if we need to.  Otherwise if we've already overcommitted
+	 * lets start flushing stuff first and then come back and try to make
+	 * our reservation.
+	 */
+	if (unused <= space_info->total_bytes) {
+		unused -= space_info->total_bytes;
+		if (unused >= num_bytes) {
+			if (!reserved)
+				space_info->bytes_reserved += orig_bytes;
+			reserved = true;
+			ret = 0;
+		} else if (!reserved) {
+			/*
+			 * Don't have enough space, reserve what we need and try
+			 * to flush.
+			 */
+			space_info->bytes_reserved += orig_bytes;
+			reserved = true;
+		}
+	} else {
+		/*
+		 * Ok we're over committed, set num_bytes to some huge number so
+		 * that the flushing stuff will give us plenty of slack space.
+		 */
+		num_bytes = orig_bytes * 2;
+	}
 
-	spin_lock(&space_info->lock);
-	if (space_info->bytes_pinned < num_bytes)
-		ret = 1;
 	spin_unlock(&space_info->lock);
-	if (ret)
-		return -ENOSPC;
 
-	(*retries)++;
+	if (!ret)
+		return 0;
 
-	if (trans)
-		return -EAGAIN;
+	/* We haven't retried yet, try and allocate a chunk. */
+	if (retries == 0) {
+		retries++;
+		ret = maybe_allocate_chunk(trans, root, space_info, num_bytes);
+		if (ret) {
+			if (reserved)
+				return 0;
+			goto again;
+		}
+	}
 
-	trans = btrfs_join_transaction(root, 1);
-	BUG_ON(IS_ERR(trans));
-	ret = btrfs_commit_transaction(trans, root);
-	BUG_ON(ret);
+	/*
+	 * So for the first round of retries (retries == 1) we don't want to be
+	 * synchronously writing out inodes.  For retries == 2 we want to do
+	 * sync, and if that still doesn't work out move on.
+	 */
+	if (retries < 3) {
+		/*
+		 * We do this because sometimes we get trans from
+		 * start_trans_handle, which will deal with shrink_delalloc
+		 * returning -EAGAIN.  HOWEVER, there are cases that don't deal
+		 * with -EAGAIN, so we'll get things erroring out that really
+		 * shouldn't have.  So instead just force us to use synchronous
+		 * delalloc flushing if we have a trans to give us the best
+		 * possible chance of actually reclaiming space.
+		 */
+		if (trans)
+			retries = 2;
 
-	return 1;
-}
+		ret = shrink_delalloc(trans, root, num_bytes, retries == 2);
+		if (ret > 0) {
+			/*
+			 * Ok we reclaimed enough space and already reserved,
+			 * we're good to go.
+			 */
+			if (reserved)
+				return 0;
+			/*
+			 * We got enough space but didn't actually reserve
+			 * already, which means we're quite low on space, so try
+			 * and reserve again and if it fails lets just skip to
+			 * doing synchronous writeout.
+			 */
+			retries = 2;
+			goto again;
+		} else if (ret < 0) {
+			goto out;
+		}
 
-static int reserve_metadata_bytes(struct btrfs_block_rsv *block_rsv,
-				  u64 num_bytes)
-{
-	struct btrfs_space_info *space_info = block_rsv->space_info;
-	u64 unused;
-	int ret = -ENOSPC;
+		/*
+		 * Ok shrink_delalloc didn't reclaim enough, but we may not have
+		 * done a synchronous writeout either, so bump retries and try
+		 * again.
+		 */
+		retries++;
+		goto again;
+	}
 
 	spin_lock(&space_info->lock);
-	unused = space_info->bytes_used + space_info->bytes_reserved +
-		 space_info->bytes_pinned + space_info->bytes_readonly +
-		 space_info->bytes_may_use;
+	/*
+	 * Not enough space to be reclaimed, don't bother committing the
+	 * transaction.
+	 */
+	if (space_info->bytes_pinned < orig_bytes)
+		ret = -ENOSPC;
+	spin_unlock(&space_info->lock);
+	if (ret)
+		goto out;
 
-	if (unused < space_info->total_bytes)
-		unused = space_info->total_bytes - unused;
-	else
-		unused = 0;
+	ret = -EAGAIN;
+	if (trans)
+		goto out;
 
-	if (unused >= num_bytes) {
-		if (block_rsv->priority >= 10) {
-			space_info->bytes_reserved += num_bytes;
-			ret = 0;
-		} else {
-			if ((unused + block_rsv->reserved) *
-			    block_rsv->priority >=
-			    (num_bytes + block_rsv->reserved) * 10) {
-				space_info->bytes_reserved += num_bytes;
-				ret = 0;
-			}
-		}
+
+	ret = -ENOSPC;
+	trans = btrfs_join_transaction(root, 1);
+	if (IS_ERR(trans))
+		goto out;
+	ret = btrfs_commit_transaction(trans, root);
+	if (!ret)
+		goto again;
+
+out:
+	if (reserved) {
+		spin_lock(&space_info->lock);
+		space_info->bytes_reserved -= orig_bytes;
+		spin_unlock(&space_info->lock);
 	}
-	spin_unlock(&space_info->lock);
 
 	return ret;
 }
@@ -3616,23 +3699,19 @@ void btrfs_add_durable_block_rsv(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info,
 int btrfs_block_rsv_add(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 			struct btrfs_root *root,
 			struct btrfs_block_rsv *block_rsv,
-			u64 num_bytes, int *retries)
+			u64 num_bytes)
 {
 	int ret;
 
 	if (num_bytes == 0)
 		return 0;
-again:
-	ret = reserve_metadata_bytes(block_rsv, num_bytes);
+
+	ret = reserve_metadata_bytes(trans, root, block_rsv, num_bytes);
 	if (!ret) {
 		block_rsv_add_bytes(block_rsv, num_bytes, 1);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	ret = should_retry_reserve(trans, root, block_rsv, num_bytes, retries);
-	if (ret > 0)
-		goto again;
-
 	return ret;
 }
 
@@ -3667,7 +3746,8 @@ int btrfs_block_rsv_check(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 		return 0;
 
 	if (block_rsv->refill_used) {
-		ret = reserve_metadata_bytes(block_rsv, num_bytes);
+		ret = reserve_metadata_bytes(trans, root, block_rsv,
+					     num_bytes);
 		if (!ret) {
 			block_rsv_add_bytes(block_rsv, num_bytes, 0);
 			return 0;
@@ -3847,7 +3927,7 @@ static u64 calc_trans_metadata_size(struct btrfs_root *root, int num_items)
 
 int btrfs_trans_reserve_metadata(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 				 struct btrfs_root *root,
-				 int num_items, int *retries)
+				 int num_items)
 {
 	u64 num_bytes;
 	int ret;
@@ -3857,7 +3937,7 @@ int btrfs_trans_reserve_metadata(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 
 	num_bytes = calc_trans_metadata_size(root, num_items);
 	ret = btrfs_block_rsv_add(trans, root, &root->fs_info->trans_block_rsv,
-				  num_bytes, retries);
+				  num_bytes);
 	if (!ret) {
 		trans->bytes_reserved += num_bytes;
 		trans->block_rsv = &root->fs_info->trans_block_rsv;
@@ -3931,14 +4011,13 @@ int btrfs_delalloc_reserve_metadata(struct inode *inode, u64 num_bytes)
 	struct btrfs_block_rsv *block_rsv = &root->fs_info->delalloc_block_rsv;
 	u64 to_reserve;
 	int nr_extents;
-	int retries = 0;
 	int ret;
 
 	if (btrfs_transaction_in_commit(root->fs_info))
 		schedule_timeout(1);
 
 	num_bytes = ALIGN(num_bytes, root->sectorsize);
-again:
+
 	spin_lock(&BTRFS_I(inode)->accounting_lock);
 	nr_extents = atomic_read(&BTRFS_I(inode)->outstanding_extents) + 1;
 	if (nr_extents > BTRFS_I(inode)->reserved_extents) {
@@ -3948,18 +4027,14 @@ again:
 		nr_extents = 0;
 		to_reserve = 0;
 	}
+	spin_unlock(&BTRFS_I(inode)->accounting_lock);
 
 	to_reserve += calc_csum_metadata_size(inode, num_bytes);
-	ret = reserve_metadata_bytes(block_rsv, to_reserve);
-	if (ret) {
-		spin_unlock(&BTRFS_I(inode)->accounting_lock);
-		ret = should_retry_reserve(NULL, root, block_rsv, to_reserve,
-					   &retries);
-		if (ret > 0)
-			goto again;
+	ret = reserve_metadata_bytes(NULL, root, block_rsv, to_reserve);
+	if (ret)
 		return ret;
-	}
 
+	spin_lock(&BTRFS_I(inode)->accounting_lock);
 	BTRFS_I(inode)->reserved_extents += nr_extents;
 	atomic_inc(&BTRFS_I(inode)->outstanding_extents);
 	spin_unlock(&BTRFS_I(inode)->accounting_lock);
@@ -5586,7 +5661,8 @@ use_block_rsv(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	block_rsv = get_block_rsv(trans, root);
 
 	if (block_rsv->size == 0) {
-		ret = reserve_metadata_bytes(block_rsv, blocksize);
+		ret = reserve_metadata_bytes(trans, root, block_rsv,
+					     blocksize);
 		if (ret)
 			return ERR_PTR(ret);
 		return block_rsv;
diff --git a/fs/btrfs/relocation.c b/fs/btrfs/relocation.c
index af339ee..fd07144 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/relocation.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/relocation.c
@@ -179,8 +179,6 @@ struct reloc_control {
 	u64 search_start;
 	u64 extents_found;
 
-	int block_rsv_retries;
-
 	unsigned int stage:8;
 	unsigned int create_reloc_tree:1;
 	unsigned int merge_reloc_tree:1;
@@ -2134,7 +2132,6 @@ int prepare_to_merge(struct reloc_control *rc, int err)
 	LIST_HEAD(reloc_roots);
 	u64 num_bytes = 0;
 	int ret;
-	int retries = 0;
 
 	mutex_lock(&root->fs_info->trans_mutex);
 	rc->merging_rsv_size += root->nodesize * (BTRFS_MAX_LEVEL - 1) * 2;
@@ -2144,7 +2141,7 @@ again:
 	if (!err) {
 		num_bytes = rc->merging_rsv_size;
 		ret = btrfs_block_rsv_add(NULL, root, rc->block_rsv,
-					  num_bytes, &retries);
+					  num_bytes);
 		if (ret)
 			err = ret;
 	}
@@ -2156,7 +2153,6 @@ again:
 			btrfs_end_transaction(trans, rc->extent_root);
 			btrfs_block_rsv_release(rc->extent_root,
 						rc->block_rsv, num_bytes);
-			retries = 0;
 			goto again;
 		}
 	}
@@ -2406,15 +2402,13 @@ static int reserve_metadata_space(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	num_bytes = calcu_metadata_size(rc, node, 1) * 2;
 
 	trans->block_rsv = rc->block_rsv;
-	ret = btrfs_block_rsv_add(trans, root, rc->block_rsv, num_bytes,
-				  &rc->block_rsv_retries);
+	ret = btrfs_block_rsv_add(trans, root, rc->block_rsv, num_bytes);
 	if (ret) {
 		if (ret == -EAGAIN)
 			rc->commit_transaction = 1;
 		return ret;
 	}
 
-	rc->block_rsv_retries = 0;
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -3615,8 +3609,7 @@ int prepare_to_relocate(struct reloc_control *rc)
 	 * is no reservation in transaction handle.
 	 */
 	ret = btrfs_block_rsv_add(NULL, rc->extent_root, rc->block_rsv,
-				  rc->extent_root->nodesize * 256,
-				  &rc->block_rsv_retries);
+				  rc->extent_root->nodesize * 256);
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
@@ -3628,7 +3621,6 @@ int prepare_to_relocate(struct reloc_control *rc)
 	rc->extents_found = 0;
 	rc->nodes_relocated = 0;
 	rc->merging_rsv_size = 0;
-	rc->block_rsv_retries = 0;
 
 	rc->create_reloc_tree = 1;
 	set_reloc_control(rc);
diff --git a/fs/btrfs/transaction.c b/fs/btrfs/transaction.c
index db0da35..0af647c 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/transaction.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/transaction.c
@@ -180,7 +180,6 @@ static struct btrfs_trans_handle *start_transaction(struct btrfs_root *root,
 {
 	struct btrfs_trans_handle *h;
 	struct btrfs_transaction *cur_trans;
-	int retries = 0;
 	int ret;
 again:
 	h = kmem_cache_alloc(btrfs_trans_handle_cachep, GFP_NOFS);
@@ -215,8 +214,7 @@ again:
 	}
 
 	if (num_items > 0) {
-		ret = btrfs_trans_reserve_metadata(h, root, num_items,
-						   &retries);
+		ret = btrfs_trans_reserve_metadata(h, root, num_items);
 		if (ret == -EAGAIN) {
 			btrfs_commit_transaction(h, root);
 			goto again;
@@ -855,7 +853,6 @@ static noinline int create_pending_snapshot(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	struct extent_buffer *tmp;
 	struct extent_buffer *old;
 	int ret;
-	int retries = 0;
 	u64 to_reserve = 0;
 	u64 index = 0;
 	u64 objectid;
@@ -877,7 +874,7 @@ static noinline int create_pending_snapshot(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 
 	if (to_reserve > 0) {
 		ret = btrfs_block_rsv_add(trans, root, &pending->block_rsv,
-					  to_reserve, &retries);
+					  to_reserve);
 		if (ret) {
 			pending->error = ret;
 			goto fail;
