diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt
index 67f1cc473257b6e646dcd27a3d9b7800096ecacd..1ebc24cf9a55af0bf1b9607d1b452e2f828ab601 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt
+++ b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt
@@ -454,6 +454,11 @@ x494] <- /root/a.out[+0x4a8] <- /lib/libc-2.7.so[+0x1e1a6]
                    latencies, as described in "Latency
                    trace format".
 
+  overwrite - This controls what happens when the trace buffer is
+              full. If "1" (default), the oldest events are
+              discarded and overwritten. If "0", then the newest
+              events are discarded.
+
 ftrace_enabled
 --------------
 
diff --git a/include/linux/ring_buffer.h b/include/linux/ring_buffer.h
index 8d3a2486544d1d91583e703b45d9b90794d2cca1..ab38ac80b0f9c7c4979a30475626c9bf2fbffa36 100644
--- a/include/linux/ring_buffer.h
+++ b/include/linux/ring_buffer.h
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ void ring_buffer_free(struct ring_buffer *buffer);
 
 int ring_buffer_resize(struct ring_buffer *buffer, unsigned long size);
 
+void ring_buffer_change_overwrite(struct ring_buffer *buffer, int val);
+
 struct ring_buffer_event *ring_buffer_lock_reserve(struct ring_buffer *buffer,
 						   unsigned long length);
 int ring_buffer_unlock_commit(struct ring_buffer *buffer,
diff --git a/kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c b/kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c
index bd1c35a4fbccf31c0531f0667545011f704c561f..269db80a961e8b8fb01b27b52ae4072829b7d2d5 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c
@@ -1429,6 +1429,17 @@ int ring_buffer_resize(struct ring_buffer *buffer, unsigned long size)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(ring_buffer_resize);
 
+void ring_buffer_change_overwrite(struct ring_buffer *buffer, int val)
+{
+	mutex_lock(&buffer->mutex);
+	if (val)
+		buffer->flags |= RB_FL_OVERWRITE;
+	else
+		buffer->flags &= ~RB_FL_OVERWRITE;
+	mutex_unlock(&buffer->mutex);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(ring_buffer_change_overwrite);
+
 static inline void *
 __rb_data_page_index(struct buffer_data_page *bpage, unsigned index)
 {
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.c b/kernel/trace/trace.c
index 8dc8da6733f97994f79dca7a88ab4a7c4cc4a3f7..85e3ee1e474e1a1336507dd592c1ab9f8619344f 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.c
@@ -41,8 +41,6 @@
 #include "trace.h"
 #include "trace_output.h"
 
-#define TRACE_BUFFER_FLAGS	(RB_FL_OVERWRITE)
-
 /*
  * On boot up, the ring buffer is set to the minimum size, so that
  * we do not waste memory on systems that are not using tracing.
@@ -340,7 +338,7 @@ static DECLARE_WAIT_QUEUE_HEAD(trace_wait);
 /* trace_flags holds trace_options default values */
 unsigned long trace_flags = TRACE_ITER_PRINT_PARENT | TRACE_ITER_PRINTK |
 	TRACE_ITER_ANNOTATE | TRACE_ITER_CONTEXT_INFO | TRACE_ITER_SLEEP_TIME |
-	TRACE_ITER_GRAPH_TIME | TRACE_ITER_RECORD_CMD;
+	TRACE_ITER_GRAPH_TIME | TRACE_ITER_RECORD_CMD | TRACE_ITER_OVERWRITE;
 
 static int trace_stop_count;
 static DEFINE_SPINLOCK(tracing_start_lock);
@@ -425,6 +423,7 @@ static const char *trace_options[] = {
 	"sleep-time",
 	"graph-time",
 	"record-cmd",
+	"overwrite",
 	NULL
 };
 
@@ -2529,6 +2528,9 @@ static void set_tracer_flags(unsigned int mask, int enabled)
 
 	if (mask == TRACE_ITER_RECORD_CMD)
 		trace_event_enable_cmd_record(enabled);
+
+	if (mask == TRACE_ITER_OVERWRITE)
+		ring_buffer_change_overwrite(global_trace.buffer, enabled);
 }
 
 static ssize_t
@@ -4555,9 +4557,11 @@ void ftrace_dump(enum ftrace_dump_mode oops_dump_mode)
 __init static int tracer_alloc_buffers(void)
 {
 	int ring_buf_size;
+	enum ring_buffer_flags rb_flags;
 	int i;
 	int ret = -ENOMEM;
 
+
 	if (!alloc_cpumask_var(&tracing_buffer_mask, GFP_KERNEL))
 		goto out;
 
@@ -4570,12 +4574,13 @@ __init static int tracer_alloc_buffers(void)
 	else
 		ring_buf_size = 1;
 
+	rb_flags = trace_flags & TRACE_ITER_OVERWRITE ? RB_FL_OVERWRITE : 0;
+
 	cpumask_copy(tracing_buffer_mask, cpu_possible_mask);
 	cpumask_copy(tracing_cpumask, cpu_all_mask);
 
 	/* TODO: make the number of buffers hot pluggable with CPUS */
-	global_trace.buffer = ring_buffer_alloc(ring_buf_size,
-						   TRACE_BUFFER_FLAGS);
+	global_trace.buffer = ring_buffer_alloc(ring_buf_size, rb_flags);
 	if (!global_trace.buffer) {
 		printk(KERN_ERR "tracer: failed to allocate ring buffer!\n");
 		WARN_ON(1);
@@ -4585,7 +4590,7 @@ __init static int tracer_alloc_buffers(void)
 
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_TRACER_MAX_TRACE
-	max_tr.buffer = ring_buffer_alloc(1, TRACE_BUFFER_FLAGS);
+	max_tr.buffer = ring_buffer_alloc(1, rb_flags);
 	if (!max_tr.buffer) {
 		printk(KERN_ERR "tracer: failed to allocate max ring buffer!\n");
 		WARN_ON(1);
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.h b/kernel/trace/trace.h
index 856e73cc1d3f7010b67eff60b356cf075d1f8c2f..951d0b7e7062e6b67da9abe7c24e9d8c036d3e2a 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.h
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.h
@@ -606,6 +606,7 @@ enum trace_iterator_flags {
 	TRACE_ITER_SLEEP_TIME		= 0x40000,
 	TRACE_ITER_GRAPH_TIME		= 0x80000,
 	TRACE_ITER_RECORD_CMD		= 0x100000,
+	TRACE_ITER_OVERWRITE		= 0x200000,
 };
 
 /*