diff --git a/fs/inode.c b/fs/inode.c
index 993a7e0dffe7b0f3d4fcf91db22e97012e373c34..b156f1a4203b5ec4efc40b7313df05235391492d 100644
--- a/fs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/inode.c
@@ -530,7 +530,14 @@ void clear_inode(struct inode *inode)
 	 */
 	xa_lock_irq(&inode->i_data.i_pages);
 	BUG_ON(inode->i_data.nrpages);
-	BUG_ON(!mapping_empty(&inode->i_data));
+	/*
+	 * Almost always, mapping_empty(&inode->i_data) here; but there are
+	 * two known and long-standing ways in which nodes may get left behind
+	 * (when deep radix-tree node allocation failed partway; or when THP
+	 * collapse_file() failed). Until those two known cases are cleaned up,
+	 * or a cleanup function is called here, do not BUG_ON(!mapping_empty),
+	 * nor even WARN_ON(!mapping_empty).
+	 */
 	xa_unlock_irq(&inode->i_data.i_pages);
 	BUG_ON(!list_empty(&inode->i_data.private_list));
 	BUG_ON(!(inode->i_state & I_FREEING));