diff --git a/fs/fs-writeback.c b/fs/fs-writeback.c
index a9ee474f96918fa1b7b163b476ff32b37944b456..e5eaa62fd17f14e1d1b47c31966f4c1646eafde7 100644
--- a/fs/fs-writeback.c
+++ b/fs/fs-writeback.c
@@ -652,18 +652,6 @@ void sync_inodes_sb(struct super_block *sb, int wait)
 	sync_sb_inodes(sb, &wbc);
 }
 
-/*
- * Rather lame livelock avoidance.
- */
-static void set_sb_syncing(int val)
-{
-	struct super_block *sb;
-	spin_lock(&sb_lock);
-	list_for_each_entry_reverse(sb, &super_blocks, s_list)
-		sb->s_syncing = val;
-	spin_unlock(&sb_lock);
-}
-
 /**
  * sync_inodes - writes all inodes to disk
  * @wait: wait for completion
@@ -690,9 +678,6 @@ static void __sync_inodes(int wait)
 	spin_lock(&sb_lock);
 restart:
 	list_for_each_entry(sb, &super_blocks, s_list) {
-		if (sb->s_syncing)
-			continue;
-		sb->s_syncing = 1;
 		sb->s_count++;
 		spin_unlock(&sb_lock);
 		down_read(&sb->s_umount);
@@ -710,13 +695,10 @@ static void __sync_inodes(int wait)
 
 void sync_inodes(int wait)
 {
-	set_sb_syncing(0);
 	__sync_inodes(0);
 
-	if (wait) {
-		set_sb_syncing(0);
+	if (wait)
 		__sync_inodes(1);
-	}
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/include/linux/fs.h b/include/linux/fs.h
index fb59673c60b1bee2b71d123494e395da7068e2a4..d7eba77f666e9558e31061b3a63d7b5d720c4a82 100644
--- a/include/linux/fs.h
+++ b/include/linux/fs.h
@@ -1133,7 +1133,6 @@ struct super_block {
 	struct rw_semaphore	s_umount;
 	struct mutex		s_lock;
 	int			s_count;
-	int			s_syncing;
 	int			s_need_sync_fs;
 	atomic_t		s_active;
 #ifdef CONFIG_SECURITY