diff --git a/fs/bio.c b/fs/bio.c
index 9298c65..9aa1938 100644
--- a/fs/bio.c
+++ b/fs/bio.c
@@ -295,6 +295,54 @@ void bio_reset(struct bio *bio)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(bio_reset);
 
+static void bio_alloc_rescue(struct work_struct *work)
+{
+	struct bio_set *bs = container_of(work, struct bio_set, rescue_work);
+	struct bio *bio;
+
+	while (1) {
+		spin_lock(&bs->rescue_lock);
+		bio = bio_list_pop(&bs->rescue_list);
+		spin_unlock(&bs->rescue_lock);
+
+		if (!bio)
+			break;
+
+		generic_make_request(bio);
+	}
+}
+
+static void punt_bios_to_rescuer(struct bio_set *bs)
+{
+	struct bio_list punt, nopunt;
+	struct bio *bio;
+
+	/*
+	 * In order to guarantee forward progress we must punt only bios that
+	 * were allocated from this bio_set; otherwise, if there was a bio on
+	 * there for a stacking driver higher up in the stack, processing it
+	 * could require allocating bios from this bio_set, and doing that from
+	 * our own rescuer would be bad.
+	 *
+	 * Since bio lists are singly linked, pop them all instead of trying to
+	 * remove from the middle of the list:
+	 */
+
+	bio_list_init(&punt);
+	bio_list_init(&nopunt);
+
+	while ((bio = bio_list_pop(current->bio_list)))
+		bio_list_add(bio->bi_pool == bs ? &punt : &nopunt, bio);
+
+	*current->bio_list = nopunt;
+
+	spin_lock(&bs->rescue_lock);
+	bio_list_merge(&bs->rescue_list, &punt);
+	spin_unlock(&bs->rescue_lock);
+
+	queue_work(bs->rescue_workqueue, &bs->rescue_work);
+}
+
 /**
  * bio_alloc_bioset - allocate a bio for I/O
  * @gfp_mask:   the GFP_ mask given to the slab allocator
@@ -312,11 +360,27 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(bio_reset);
  *   previously allocated bio for IO before attempting to allocate a new one.
  *   Failure to do so can cause deadlocks under memory pressure.
  *
+ *   Note that when running under generic_make_request() (i.e. any block
+ *   driver), bios are not submitted until after you return - see the code in
+ *   generic_make_request() that converts recursion into iteration, to prevent
+ *   stack overflows.
+ *
+ *   This would normally mean allocating multiple bios under
+ *   generic_make_request() would be susceptible to deadlocks, but we have
+ *   deadlock avoidance code that resubmits any blocked bios from a rescuer
+ *   thread.
+ *
+ *   However, we do not guarantee forward progress for allocations from other
+ *   mempools. Doing multiple allocations from the same mempool under
+ *   generic_make_request() should be avoided - instead, use bio_set's front_pad
+ *   for per bio allocations.
+ *
  *   RETURNS:
  *   Pointer to new bio on success, NULL on failure.
  */
 struct bio *bio_alloc_bioset(gfp_t gfp_mask, int nr_iovecs, struct bio_set *bs)
 {
+	gfp_t saved_gfp = gfp_mask;
 	unsigned front_pad;
 	unsigned inline_vecs;
 	unsigned long idx = BIO_POOL_NONE;
@@ -334,7 +398,37 @@ struct bio *bio_alloc_bioset(gfp_t gfp_mask, int nr_iovecs, struct bio_set *bs)
 		front_pad = 0;
 		inline_vecs = nr_iovecs;
 	} else {
+		/*
+		 * generic_make_request() converts recursion to iteration; this
+		 * means if we're running beneath it, any bios we allocate and
+		 * submit will not be submitted (and thus freed) until after we
+		 * return.
+		 *
+		 * This exposes us to a potential deadlock if we allocate
+		 * multiple bios from the same bio_set() while running
+		 * underneath generic_make_request(). If we were to allocate
+		 * multiple bios (say a stacking block driver that was splitting
+		 * bios), we would deadlock if we exhausted the mempool's
+		 * reserve.
+		 *
+		 * We solve this, and guarantee forward progress, with a rescuer
+		 * workqueue per bio_set. If we go to allocate and there are
+		 * bios on current->bio_list, we first try the allocation
+		 * without __GFP_WAIT; if that fails, we punt those bios we
+		 * would be blocking to the rescuer workqueue before we retry
+		 * with the original gfp_flags.
+		 */
+
+		if (current->bio_list && !bio_list_empty(current->bio_list))
+			gfp_mask &= ~__GFP_WAIT;
+
 		p = mempool_alloc(bs->bio_pool, gfp_mask);
+		if (!p && gfp_mask != saved_gfp) {
+			punt_bios_to_rescuer(bs);
+			gfp_mask = saved_gfp;
+			p = mempool_alloc(bs->bio_pool, gfp_mask);
+		}
+
 		front_pad = bs->front_pad;
 		inline_vecs = BIO_INLINE_VECS;
 	}
@@ -347,6 +441,12 @@ struct bio *bio_alloc_bioset(gfp_t gfp_mask, int nr_iovecs, struct bio_set *bs)
 
 	if (nr_iovecs > inline_vecs) {
 		bvl = bvec_alloc_bs(gfp_mask, nr_iovecs, &idx, bs);
+		if (!bvl && gfp_mask != saved_gfp) {
+			punt_bios_to_rescuer(bs);
+			gfp_mask = saved_gfp;
+			bvl = bvec_alloc_bs(gfp_mask, nr_iovecs, &idx, bs);
+		}
+
 		if (unlikely(!bvl))
 			goto err_free;
 	} else if (nr_iovecs) {
@@ -1575,6 +1675,9 @@ static void biovec_free_pools(struct bio_set *bs)
 
 void bioset_free(struct bio_set *bs)
 {
+	if (bs->rescue_workqueue)
+		destroy_workqueue(bs->rescue_workqueue);
+
 	if (bs->bio_pool)
 		mempool_destroy(bs->bio_pool);
 
@@ -1610,6 +1713,10 @@ struct bio_set *bioset_create(unsigned int pool_size, unsigned int front_pad)
 
 	bs->front_pad = front_pad;
 
+	spin_lock_init(&bs->rescue_lock);
+	bio_list_init(&bs->rescue_list);
+	INIT_WORK(&bs->rescue_work, bio_alloc_rescue);
+
 	bs->bio_slab = bio_find_or_create_slab(front_pad + back_pad);
 	if (!bs->bio_slab) {
 		kfree(bs);
@@ -1620,9 +1727,14 @@ struct bio_set *bioset_create(unsigned int pool_size, unsigned int front_pad)
 	if (!bs->bio_pool)
 		goto bad;
 
-	if (!biovec_create_pools(bs, pool_size))
-		return bs;
+	if (biovec_create_pools(bs, pool_size))
+		goto bad;
+
+	bs->rescue_workqueue = alloc_workqueue("bioset", WQ_MEM_RECLAIM, 0);
+	if (!bs->rescue_workqueue)
+		goto bad;
 
+	return bs;
 bad:
 	bioset_free(bs);
 	return NULL;
diff --git a/include/linux/bio.h b/include/linux/bio.h
index 93d3d17..b31036f 100644
--- a/include/linux/bio.h
+++ b/include/linux/bio.h
@@ -513,6 +513,15 @@ struct bio_set {
 	mempool_t *bio_integrity_pool;
 #endif
 	mempool_t *bvec_pool;
+
+	/*
+	 * Deadlock avoidance for stacking block drivers: see comments in
+	 * bio_alloc_bioset() for details
+	 */
+	spinlock_t		rescue_lock;
+	struct bio_list		rescue_list;
+	struct work_struct	rescue_work;
+	struct workqueue_struct	*rescue_workqueue;
 };
 
 struct biovec_slab {
