diff --git a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core.c b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core.c
index feb7dc359186495ead9dbff484e0ab76507eff0c..ccc6445979c4ad23a54a54e05292b1003233a9c8 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core.c
@@ -1294,6 +1294,37 @@ module_exit(i2c_exit);
  * ----------------------------------------------------
  */
 
+/**
+ * __i2c_transfer - unlocked flavor of i2c_transfer
+ * @adap: Handle to I2C bus
+ * @msgs: One or more messages to execute before STOP is issued to
+ *	terminate the operation; each message begins with a START.
+ * @num: Number of messages to be executed.
+ *
+ * Returns negative errno, else the number of messages executed.
+ *
+ * Adapter lock must be held when calling this function. No debug logging
+ * takes place. adap->algo->master_xfer existence isn't checked.
+ */
+int __i2c_transfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap, struct i2c_msg *msgs, int num)
+{
+	unsigned long orig_jiffies;
+	int ret, try;
+
+	/* Retry automatically on arbitration loss */
+	orig_jiffies = jiffies;
+	for (ret = 0, try = 0; try <= adap->retries; try++) {
+		ret = adap->algo->master_xfer(adap, msgs, num);
+		if (ret != -EAGAIN)
+			break;
+		if (time_after(jiffies, orig_jiffies + adap->timeout))
+			break;
+	}
+
+	return ret;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(__i2c_transfer);
+
 /**
  * i2c_transfer - execute a single or combined I2C message
  * @adap: Handle to I2C bus
@@ -1308,8 +1339,7 @@ module_exit(i2c_exit);
  */
 int i2c_transfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap, struct i2c_msg *msgs, int num)
 {
-	unsigned long orig_jiffies;
-	int ret, try;
+	int ret;
 
 	/* REVISIT the fault reporting model here is weak:
 	 *
@@ -1347,15 +1377,7 @@ int i2c_transfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap, struct i2c_msg *msgs, int num)
 			i2c_lock_adapter(adap);
 		}
 
-		/* Retry automatically on arbitration loss */
-		orig_jiffies = jiffies;
-		for (ret = 0, try = 0; try <= adap->retries; try++) {
-			ret = adap->algo->master_xfer(adap, msgs, num);
-			if (ret != -EAGAIN)
-				break;
-			if (time_after(jiffies, orig_jiffies + adap->timeout))
-				break;
-		}
+		ret = __i2c_transfer(adap, msgs, num);
 		i2c_unlock_adapter(adap);
 
 		return ret;
diff --git a/include/linux/i2c.h b/include/linux/i2c.h
index 195d8b3d9cfbf9b9363367f5604aaec029c68e20..a121c012309a62c1be284fd056dcf19fde2b3c89 100644
--- a/include/linux/i2c.h
+++ b/include/linux/i2c.h
@@ -68,6 +68,9 @@ extern int i2c_master_recv(const struct i2c_client *client, char *buf,
  */
 extern int i2c_transfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap, struct i2c_msg *msgs,
 			int num);
+/* Unlocked flavor */
+extern int __i2c_transfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap, struct i2c_msg *msgs,
+			  int num);
 
 /* This is the very generalized SMBus access routine. You probably do not
    want to use this, though; one of the functions below may be much easier,