diff --git a/fs/btrfs/delalloc-space.c b/fs/btrfs/delalloc-space.c
index 4cdac4d834f567505b19c6eceed1a9efaab79655..f23d07a981e43b6c2b73a15fc8e3223305a68671 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/delalloc-space.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/delalloc-space.c
@@ -9,6 +9,108 @@
 #include "qgroup.h"
 #include "block-group.h"
 
+/*
+ * HOW DOES THIS WORK
+ *
+ * There are two stages to data reservations, one for data and one for metadata
+ * to handle the new extents and checksums generated by writing data.
+ *
+ *
+ * DATA RESERVATION
+ *   The general flow of the data reservation is as follows
+ *
+ *   -> Reserve
+ *     We call into btrfs_reserve_data_bytes() for the user request bytes that
+ *     they wish to write.  We make this reservation and add it to
+ *     space_info->bytes_may_use.  We set EXTENT_DELALLOC on the inode io_tree
+ *     for the range and carry on if this is buffered, or follow up trying to
+ *     make a real allocation if we are pre-allocating or doing O_DIRECT.
+ *
+ *   -> Use
+ *     At writepages()/prealloc/O_DIRECT time we will call into
+ *     btrfs_reserve_extent() for some part or all of this range of bytes.  We
+ *     will make the allocation and subtract space_info->bytes_may_use by the
+ *     original requested length and increase the space_info->bytes_reserved by
+ *     the allocated length.  This distinction is important because compression
+ *     may allocate a smaller on disk extent than we previously reserved.
+ *
+ *   -> Allocation
+ *     finish_ordered_io() will insert the new file extent item for this range,
+ *     and then add a delayed ref update for the extent tree.  Once that delayed
+ *     ref is written the extent size is subtracted from
+ *     space_info->bytes_reserved and added to space_info->bytes_used.
+ *
+ *   Error handling
+ *
+ *   -> By the reservation maker
+ *     This is the simplest case, we haven't completed our operation and we know
+ *     how much we reserved, we can simply call
+ *     btrfs_free_reserved_data_space*() and it will be removed from
+ *     space_info->bytes_may_use.
+ *
+ *   -> After the reservation has been made, but before cow_file_range()
+ *     This is specifically for the delalloc case.  You must clear
+ *     EXTENT_DELALLOC with the EXTENT_CLEAR_DATA_RESV bit, and the range will
+ *     be subtracted from space_info->bytes_may_use.
+ *
+ * METADATA RESERVATION
+ *   The general metadata reservation lifetimes are discussed elsewhere, this
+ *   will just focus on how it is used for delalloc space.
+ *
+ *   We keep track of two things on a per inode bases
+ *
+ *   ->outstanding_extents
+ *     This is the number of file extent items we'll need to handle all of the
+ *     outstanding DELALLOC space we have in this inode.  We limit the maximum
+ *     size of an extent, so a large contiguous dirty area may require more than
+ *     one outstanding_extent, which is why count_max_extents() is used to
+ *     determine how many outstanding_extents get added.
+ *
+ *   ->csum_bytes
+ *     This is essentially how many dirty bytes we have for this inode, so we
+ *     can calculate the number of checksum items we would have to add in order
+ *     to checksum our outstanding data.
+ *
+ *   We keep a per-inode block_rsv in order to make it easier to keep track of
+ *   our reservation.  We use btrfs_calculate_inode_block_rsv_size() to
+ *   calculate the current theoretical maximum reservation we would need for the
+ *   metadata for this inode.  We call this and then adjust our reservation as
+ *   necessary, either by attempting to reserve more space, or freeing up excess
+ *   space.
+ *
+ * OUTSTANDING_EXTENTS HANDLING
+ *
+ *  ->outstanding_extents is used for keeping track of how many extents we will
+ *  need to use for this inode, and it will fluctuate depending on where you are
+ *  in the life cycle of the dirty data.  Consider the following normal case for
+ *  a completely clean inode, with a num_bytes < our maximum allowed extent size
+ *
+ *  -> reserve
+ *    ->outstanding_extents += 1 (current value is 1)
+ *
+ *  -> set_delalloc
+ *    ->outstanding_extents += 1 (currrent value is 2)
+ *
+ *  -> btrfs_delalloc_release_extents()
+ *    ->outstanding_extents -= 1 (current value is 1)
+ *
+ *    We must call this once we are done, as we hold our reservation for the
+ *    duration of our operation, and then assume set_delalloc will update the
+ *    counter appropriately.
+ *
+ *  -> add ordered extent
+ *    ->outstanding_extents += 1 (current value is 2)
+ *
+ *  -> btrfs_clear_delalloc_extent
+ *    ->outstanding_extents -= 1 (current value is 1)
+ *
+ *  -> finish_ordered_io/btrfs_remove_ordered_extent
+ *    ->outstanding_extents -= 1 (current value is 0)
+ *
+ *  Each stage is responsible for their own accounting of the extent, thus
+ *  making error handling and cleanup easier.
+ */
+
 int btrfs_alloc_data_chunk_ondemand(struct btrfs_inode *inode, u64 bytes)
 {
 	struct btrfs_root *root = inode->root;