diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_atomic_helper.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_atomic_helper.c
index 63e46827b303..73b345323cf1 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_atomic_helper.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_atomic_helper.c
@@ -1118,22 +1118,17 @@ drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_vblanks(struct drm_device *dev,
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_vblanks);
 
 /**
- * drm_atomic_helper_commit - commit validated state object
- * @dev: DRM device
- * @state: the driver state object
- * @nonblocking: whether nonblocking behavior is requested.
+ * drm_atomic_helper_commit_tail - commit atomic update to hardware
+ * @state: new modeset state to be committed
  *
- * This function commits a with drm_atomic_helper_check() pre-validated state
- * object. This can still fail when e.g. the framebuffer reservation fails. For
- * now this doesn't implement nonblocking commits.
+ * This is the default implemenation for the ->atomic_commit_tail() hook of the
+ * &drm_mode_config_helper_funcs vtable.
  *
- * Note that right now this function does not support nonblocking commits, hence
- * driver writers must implement their own version for now. Also note that the
- * default ordering of how the various stages are called is to match the legacy
- * modeset helper library closest. One peculiarity of that is that it doesn't
- * mesh well with runtime PM at all.
+ * Note that the default ordering of how the various stages are called is to
+ * match the legacy modeset helper library closest. One peculiarity of that is
+ * that it doesn't mesh well with runtime PM at all.
  *
- * For drivers supporting runtime PM the recommended sequence is
+ * For drivers supporting runtime PM the recommended sequence is instead ::
  *
  *     drm_atomic_helper_commit_modeset_disables(dev, state);
  *
@@ -1141,7 +1136,73 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_vblanks);
  *
  *     drm_atomic_helper_commit_planes(dev, state, true);
  *
- * See the kerneldoc entries for these three functions for more details.
+ * for committing the atomic update to hardware.  See the kerneldoc entries for
+ * these three functions for more details.
+ */
+void drm_atomic_helper_commit_tail(struct drm_atomic_state *state)
+{
+	struct drm_device *dev = state->dev;
+
+	drm_atomic_helper_commit_modeset_disables(dev, state);
+
+	drm_atomic_helper_commit_planes(dev, state, false);
+
+	drm_atomic_helper_commit_modeset_enables(dev, state);
+
+	drm_atomic_helper_commit_hw_done(state);
+
+	drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_vblanks(dev, state);
+
+	drm_atomic_helper_cleanup_planes(dev, state);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_atomic_helper_commit_tail);
+
+static void commit_tail(struct drm_atomic_state *state)
+{
+	struct drm_device *dev = state->dev;
+	struct drm_mode_config_helper_funcs *funcs;
+
+	funcs = dev->mode_config.helper_private;
+
+	drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_fences(dev, state);
+
+	drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_dependencies(state);
+
+	if (funcs && funcs->atomic_commit_tail)
+		funcs->atomic_commit_tail(state);
+	else
+		drm_atomic_helper_commit_tail(state);
+
+	drm_atomic_helper_commit_cleanup_done(state);
+
+	drm_atomic_state_free(state);
+}
+
+static void commit_work(struct work_struct *work)
+{
+	struct drm_atomic_state *state = container_of(work,
+						      struct drm_atomic_state,
+						      commit_work);
+	commit_tail(state);
+}
+
+/**
+ * drm_atomic_helper_commit - commit validated state object
+ * @dev: DRM device
+ * @state: the driver state object
+ * @nonblock: whether nonblocking behavior is requested.
+ *
+ * This function commits a with drm_atomic_helper_check() pre-validated state
+ * object. This can still fail when e.g. the framebuffer reservation fails. This
+ * function implements nonblocking commits, using
+ * drm_atomic_helper_setup_commit() and related functions.
+ *
+ * Note that right now this function does not support nonblocking commits, hence
+ * driver writers must implement their own version for now.
+ *
+ * Committing the actual hardware state is done through the
+ * ->atomic_commit_tail() callback of the &drm_mode_config_helper_funcs vtable,
+ * or it's default implementation drm_atomic_helper_commit_tail().
  *
  * RETURNS
  * Zero for success or -errno.
@@ -1152,13 +1213,12 @@ int drm_atomic_helper_commit(struct drm_device *dev,
 {
 	int ret;
 
-	if (nonblock)
-		return -EBUSY;
-
 	ret = drm_atomic_helper_setup_commit(state, nonblock);
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
+	INIT_WORK(&state->commit_work, commit_work);
+
 	ret = drm_atomic_helper_prepare_planes(dev, state);
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
@@ -1185,27 +1245,16 @@ int drm_atomic_helper_commit(struct drm_device *dev,
 	 * update. Which is important since compositors need to figure out the
 	 * composition of the next frame right after having submitted the
 	 * current layout.
+	 *
+	 * NOTE: Commit work has multiple phases, first hardware commit, then
+	 * cleanup. We want them to overlap, hence need system_unbound_wq to
+	 * make sure work items don't artifically stall on each another.
 	 */
 
-	drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_fences(dev, state);
-
-	drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_dependencies(state);
-
-	drm_atomic_helper_commit_modeset_disables(dev, state);
-
-	drm_atomic_helper_commit_planes(dev, state, false);
-
-	drm_atomic_helper_commit_modeset_enables(dev, state);
-
-	drm_atomic_helper_commit_hw_done(state);
-
-	drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_vblanks(dev, state);
-
-	drm_atomic_helper_cleanup_planes(dev, state);
-
-	drm_atomic_helper_commit_cleanup_done(state);
-
-	drm_atomic_state_free(state);
+	if (nonblock)
+		queue_work(system_unbound_wq, &state->commit_work);
+	else
+		commit_tail(state);
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -1214,12 +1263,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_atomic_helper_commit);
 /**
  * DOC: implementing nonblocking commit
  *
- * For now the atomic helpers don't support nonblocking commit directly. If
- * there is real need it could be added though, using the dma-buf fence
- * infrastructure for generic synchronization with outstanding rendering.
- *
- * For now drivers have to implement nonblocking commit themselves, with the
- * following sequence being the recommended one:
+ * Nonblocking atomic commits have to be implemented in the following sequence:
  *
  * 1. Run drm_atomic_helper_prepare_planes() first. This is the only function
  * which commit needs to call which can fail, so we want to run it first and
@@ -1231,10 +1275,14 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_atomic_helper_commit);
  * cancelled updates. Note that it is important to ensure that the framebuffer
  * cleanup is still done when cancelling.
  *
- * For sufficient parallelism it is recommended to have a work item per crtc
- * (for updates which don't touch global state) and a global one. Then we only
- * need to synchronize with the crtc work items for changed crtcs and the global
- * work item, which allows nice concurrent updates on disjoint sets of crtcs.
+ * Asynchronous workers need to have sufficient parallelism to be able to run
+ * different atomic commits on different CRTCs in parallel. The simplest way to
+ * achive this is by running them on the &system_unbound_wq work queue. Note
+ * that drivers are not required to split up atomic commits and run an
+ * individual commit in parallel - userspace is supposed to do that if it cares.
+ * But it might be beneficial to do that for modesets, since those necessarily
+ * must be done as one global operation, and enabling or disabling a CRTC can
+ * take a long time. But even that is not required.
  *
  * 3. The software state is updated synchronously with
  * drm_atomic_helper_swap_state(). Doing this under the protection of all modeset
@@ -1247,6 +1295,10 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_atomic_helper_commit);
  * commit helpers: a) pre-plane commit b) plane commit c) post-plane commit and
  * then cleaning up the framebuffers after the old framebuffer is no longer
  * being displayed.
+ *
+ * The above scheme is implemented in the atomic helper libraries in
+ * drm_atomic_helper_commit() using a bunch of helper functions. See
+ * drm_atomic_helper_setup_commit() for a starting point.
  */
 
 static int stall_checks(struct drm_crtc *crtc, bool nonblock)
diff --git a/include/drm/drm_atomic_helper.h b/include/drm/drm_atomic_helper.h
index 368cbffc54ac..31c11e3d6887 100644
--- a/include/drm/drm_atomic_helper.h
+++ b/include/drm/drm_atomic_helper.h
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ int drm_atomic_helper_check_planes(struct drm_device *dev,
 			       struct drm_atomic_state *state);
 int drm_atomic_helper_check(struct drm_device *dev,
 			    struct drm_atomic_state *state);
+void drm_atomic_helper_commit_tail(struct drm_atomic_state *state);
 int drm_atomic_helper_commit(struct drm_device *dev,
 			     struct drm_atomic_state *state,
 			     bool nonblock);
diff --git a/include/drm/drm_crtc.h b/include/drm/drm_crtc.h
index 14aa8212e30f..7ecc8bad753e 100644
--- a/include/drm/drm_crtc.h
+++ b/include/drm/drm_crtc.h
@@ -2247,6 +2247,7 @@ struct drm_mode_config_funcs {
  * @async_page_flip: does this device support async flips on the primary plane?
  * @cursor_width: hint to userspace for max cursor width
  * @cursor_height: hint to userspace for max cursor height
+ * @helper_private: mid-layer private data
  *
  * Core mode resource tracking structure.  All CRTC, encoders, and connectors
  * enumerated by the driver are added here, as are global properties.  Some
@@ -2390,6 +2391,8 @@ struct drm_mode_config {
 
 	/* cursor size */
 	uint32_t cursor_width, cursor_height;
+
+	struct drm_mode_config_helper_funcs *helper_private;
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/include/drm/drm_modeset_helper_vtables.h b/include/drm/drm_modeset_helper_vtables.h
index d4619dc2eecb..4723fb96bc1a 100644
--- a/include/drm/drm_modeset_helper_vtables.h
+++ b/include/drm/drm_modeset_helper_vtables.h
@@ -925,4 +925,43 @@ static inline void drm_plane_helper_add(struct drm_plane *plane,
 	plane->helper_private = funcs;
 }
 
+/**
+ * struct drm_mode_config_helper_funcs - global modeset helper operations
+ *
+ * These helper functions are used by the atomic helpers.
+ */
+struct drm_mode_config_helper_funcs {
+	/**
+	 * @atomic_commit_tail:
+	 *
+	 * This hook is used by the default atomic_commit() hook implemented in
+	 * drm_atomic_helper_commit() together with the nonblocking commit
+	 * helpers (see drm_atomic_helper_setup_commit() for a starting point)
+	 * to implement blocking and nonblocking commits easily. It is not used
+	 * by the atomic helpers
+	 *
+	 * This hook should first commit the given atomic state to the hardware.
+	 * But drivers can add more waiting calls at the start of their
+	 * implementation, e.g. to wait for driver-internal request for implicit
+	 * syncing, before starting to commit the update to the hardware.
+	 *
+	 * After the atomic update is committed to the hardware this hook needs
+	 * to call drm_atomic_helper_commit_hw_done(). Then wait for the upate
+	 * to be executed by the hardware, for example using
+	 * drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_vblanks(), and then clean up the old
+	 * framebuffers using drm_atomic_helper_cleanup_planes().
+	 *
+	 * When disabling a CRTC this hook _must_ stall for the commit to
+	 * complete. Vblank waits don't work on disabled CRTC, hence the core
+	 * can't take care of this. And it also can't rely on the vblank event,
+	 * since that can be signalled already when the screen shows black,
+	 * which can happen much earlier than the last hardware access needed to
+	 * shut off the display pipeline completely.
+	 *
+	 * This hook is optional, the default implementation is
+	 * drm_atomic_helper_commit_tail().
+	 */
+	void (*atomic_commit_tail)(struct drm_atomic_state *state);
+};
+
 #endif
