diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-linear.c b/drivers/md/dm-linear.c
index 79fb53e51c709e2875382c517bc61413e50fd978..bfa107f59d96fca62f219bff16e3affcf08b5046 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-linear.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-linear.c
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ static struct target_type linear_target = {
 	.status = linear_status,
 	.ioctl  = linear_ioctl,
 	.merge  = linear_merge,
+	.features = DM_TARGET_SUPPORTS_BARRIERS,
 };
 
 int __init dm_linear_init(void)
diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-table.c b/drivers/md/dm-table.c
index 04e5fd742c2c29e42fbba920e1303b889229ccf7..ebaaf72cd8220c62e7f5287b8e32dee756186ee0 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-table.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-table.c
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ struct dm_table {
 	sector_t *highs;
 	struct dm_target *targets;
 
+	unsigned barriers_supported:1;
+
 	/*
 	 * Indicates the rw permissions for the new logical
 	 * device.  This should be a combination of FMODE_READ
@@ -227,6 +229,7 @@ int dm_table_create(struct dm_table **result, fmode_t mode,
 
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&t->devices);
 	atomic_set(&t->holders, 1);
+	t->barriers_supported = 1;
 
 	if (!num_targets)
 		num_targets = KEYS_PER_NODE;
@@ -728,6 +731,10 @@ int dm_table_add_target(struct dm_table *t, const char *type,
 	/* FIXME: the plan is to combine high here and then have
 	 * the merge fn apply the target level restrictions. */
 	combine_restrictions_low(&t->limits, &tgt->limits);
+
+	if (!(tgt->type->features & DM_TARGET_SUPPORTS_BARRIERS))
+		t->barriers_supported = 0;
+
 	return 0;
 
  bad:
@@ -772,6 +779,12 @@ int dm_table_complete(struct dm_table *t)
 
 	check_for_valid_limits(&t->limits);
 
+	/*
+	 * We only support barriers if there is exactly one underlying device.
+	 */
+	if (!list_is_singular(&t->devices))
+		t->barriers_supported = 0;
+
 	/* how many indexes will the btree have ? */
 	leaf_nodes = dm_div_up(t->num_targets, KEYS_PER_NODE);
 	t->depth = 1 + int_log(leaf_nodes, CHILDREN_PER_NODE);
@@ -986,6 +999,12 @@ struct mapped_device *dm_table_get_md(struct dm_table *t)
 	return t->md;
 }
 
+int dm_table_barrier_ok(struct dm_table *t)
+{
+	return t->barriers_supported;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(dm_table_barrier_ok);
+
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(dm_vcalloc);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(dm_get_device);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(dm_put_device);
diff --git a/drivers/md/dm.c b/drivers/md/dm.c
index 4882ce7e88a33e974a071def5fb8496ed7cc3969..dd953b189f459288b576fedcd6b42a29931f76c9 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm.c
@@ -835,7 +835,11 @@ static int __split_bio(struct mapped_device *md, struct bio *bio)
 	ci.map = dm_get_table(md);
 	if (unlikely(!ci.map))
 		return -EIO;
-
+	if (unlikely(bio_barrier(bio) && !dm_table_barrier_ok(ci.map))) {
+		dm_table_put(ci.map);
+		bio_endio(bio, -EOPNOTSUPP);
+		return 0;
+	}
 	ci.md = md;
 	ci.bio = bio;
 	ci.io = alloc_io(md);
@@ -919,15 +923,6 @@ static int dm_request(struct request_queue *q, struct bio *bio)
 	struct mapped_device *md = q->queuedata;
 	int cpu;
 
-	/*
-	 * There is no use in forwarding any barrier request since we can't
-	 * guarantee it is (or can be) handled by the targets correctly.
-	 */
-	if (unlikely(bio_barrier(bio))) {
-		bio_endio(bio, -EOPNOTSUPP);
-		return 0;
-	}
-
 	down_read(&md->io_lock);
 
 	cpu = part_stat_lock();
diff --git a/drivers/md/dm.h b/drivers/md/dm.h
index 0ade60cdef42dd062bf8f11210ee27b65dd651d2..5b5d08ba9e92f17e2a5c28f3a97d14f7dd4ec74c 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm.h
+++ b/drivers/md/dm.h
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ int dm_table_any_congested(struct dm_table *t, int bdi_bits);
  * To check the return value from dm_table_find_target().
  */
 #define dm_target_is_valid(t) ((t)->table)
+int dm_table_barrier_ok(struct dm_table *t);
 
 /*-----------------------------------------------------------------
  * A registry of target types.
diff --git a/include/linux/device-mapper.h b/include/linux/device-mapper.h
index c1ba76c7c0e538f8f8804beb77231c78f45d6c58..8209e08969f9e4265e4fbbcd0c00b5a68467cad5 100644
--- a/include/linux/device-mapper.h
+++ b/include/linux/device-mapper.h
@@ -112,7 +112,14 @@ void dm_put_device(struct dm_target *ti, struct dm_dev *d);
 /*
  * Information about a target type
  */
+
+/*
+ * Target features
+ */
+#define DM_TARGET_SUPPORTS_BARRIERS 0x00000001
+
 struct target_type {
+	uint64_t features;
 	const char *name;
 	struct module *module;
 	unsigned version[3];