diff --git a/fs/xfs/linux-2.6/xfs_sync.c b/fs/xfs/linux-2.6/xfs_sync.c
index 3e898a48122d3921f56683c313b071968cc4a9df..cb1bb2080e44b7d3acc2803a275c290894fd3245 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/linux-2.6/xfs_sync.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/linux-2.6/xfs_sync.c
@@ -267,6 +267,16 @@ xfs_sync_inode_attr(
 
 	error = xfs_iflush(ip, flags);
 
+	/*
+	 * We don't want to try again on non-blocking flushes that can't run
+	 * again immediately. If an inode really must be written, then that's
+	 * what the SYNC_WAIT flag is for.
+	 */
+	if (error == EAGAIN) {
+		ASSERT(!(flags & SYNC_WAIT));
+		error = 0;
+	}
+
  out_unlock:
 	xfs_iunlock(ip, XFS_ILOCK_SHARED);
 	return error;