diff --git a/fs/btrfs/compression.c b/fs/btrfs/compression.c
index 208334aa6c6e..02bd60357f04 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/compression.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/compression.c
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 #include <linux/slab.h>
 #include <linux/sched/mm.h>
 #include <linux/log2.h>
+#include <linux/mempool.h>
 #include "ctree.h"
 #include "disk-io.h"
 #include "transaction.h"
@@ -768,46 +769,46 @@ struct heuristic_ws {
 	struct bucket_item *bucket;
 	/* Sorting buffer */
 	struct bucket_item *bucket_b;
-	struct list_head list;
 };
 
-static void free_heuristic_ws(struct list_head *ws)
+static void heuristic_ws_free(void *element, void *pool_data)
 {
-	struct heuristic_ws *workspace;
+	struct heuristic_ws *ws = (struct heuristic_ws *) element;
 
-	workspace = list_entry(ws, struct heuristic_ws, list);
-
-	kvfree(workspace->sample);
-	kfree(workspace->bucket);
-	kfree(workspace->bucket_b);
-	kfree(workspace);
+	kfree(ws->sample);
+	kfree(ws->bucket);
+	kfree(ws->bucket_b);
+	kfree(ws);
 }
 
-static struct list_head *alloc_heuristic_ws(void)
+static void *heuristic_ws_alloc(gfp_t gfp_mask, void *pool_data)
 {
-	struct heuristic_ws *ws;
+	struct heuristic_ws *ws = kzalloc(sizeof(*ws), gfp_mask);
 
-	ws = kzalloc(sizeof(*ws), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!ws)
-		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+		return NULL;
 
-	ws->sample = kvmalloc(MAX_SAMPLE_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
+	/*
+	 * We can handle allocation failures and
+	 * slab have caches for 8192 byte allocations
+	 */
+	ws->sample = kmalloc(MAX_SAMPLE_SIZE, gfp_mask);
 	if (!ws->sample)
 		goto fail;
 
-	ws->bucket = kcalloc(BUCKET_SIZE, sizeof(*ws->bucket), GFP_KERNEL);
+	ws->bucket = kcalloc(BUCKET_SIZE, sizeof(*ws->bucket), gfp_mask);
 	if (!ws->bucket)
 		goto fail;
 
-	ws->bucket_b = kcalloc(BUCKET_SIZE, sizeof(*ws->bucket_b), GFP_KERNEL);
+	ws->bucket_b = kcalloc(BUCKET_SIZE, sizeof(*ws->bucket_b), gfp_mask);
 	if (!ws->bucket_b)
 		goto fail;
 
-	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&ws->list);
-	return &ws->list;
+	return ws;
+
 fail:
-	free_heuristic_ws(&ws->list);
-	return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+	heuristic_ws_free(ws, NULL);
+	return NULL;
 }
 
 struct workspaces_list {
@@ -821,9 +822,12 @@ struct workspaces_list {
 	wait_queue_head_t ws_wait;
 };
 
-static struct workspaces_list btrfs_comp_ws[BTRFS_COMPRESS_TYPES];
+struct workspace_stor {
+	mempool_t *pool;
+};
 
-static struct workspaces_list btrfs_heuristic_ws;
+static struct workspace_stor btrfs_heuristic_ws_stor;
+static struct workspaces_list btrfs_comp_ws[BTRFS_COMPRESS_TYPES];
 
 static const struct btrfs_compress_op * const btrfs_compress_op[] = {
 	&btrfs_zlib_compress,
@@ -835,21 +839,17 @@ void __init btrfs_init_compress(void)
 {
 	struct list_head *workspace;
 	int i;
+	mempool_t *pool = btrfs_heuristic_ws_stor.pool;
 
-	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&btrfs_heuristic_ws.idle_ws);
-	spin_lock_init(&btrfs_heuristic_ws.ws_lock);
-	atomic_set(&btrfs_heuristic_ws.total_ws, 0);
-	init_waitqueue_head(&btrfs_heuristic_ws.ws_wait);
+	/*
+	 * Preallocate one workspace for heuristic so
+	 * we can guarantee forward progress in the worst case
+	 */
+	pool = mempool_create(1, heuristic_ws_alloc,
+				 heuristic_ws_free, NULL);
 
-	workspace = alloc_heuristic_ws();
-	if (IS_ERR(workspace)) {
-		pr_warn(
-	"BTRFS: cannot preallocate heuristic workspace, will try later\n");
-	} else {
-		atomic_set(&btrfs_heuristic_ws.total_ws, 1);
-		btrfs_heuristic_ws.free_ws = 1;
-		list_add(workspace, &btrfs_heuristic_ws.idle_ws);
-	}
+	if (pool == NULL)
+		pr_warn("BTRFS: cannot preallocate heuristic workspace, will try later\n");
 
 	for (i = 0; i < BTRFS_COMPRESS_TYPES; i++) {
 		INIT_LIST_HEAD(&btrfs_comp_ws[i].idle_ws);
@@ -872,13 +872,67 @@ void __init btrfs_init_compress(void)
 	}
 }
 
+/*
+ * Handle mempool init failures
+ * Call resize of mempool if min_nr and ncpu differ
+ */
+static void *mempool_alloc_wrap(struct workspace_stor *stor)
+{
+	int ncpu = num_online_cpus();
+
+	while (unlikely(stor->pool == NULL)) {
+		mempool_t *pool;
+		void *(*ws_alloc)(gfp_t gfp_mask, void *pool_data);
+		void (*ws_free)(void *element, void *pool_data);
+
+		if (stor == &btrfs_heuristic_ws_stor) {
+			ws_alloc = heuristic_ws_alloc;
+			ws_free  = heuristic_ws_free;
+		}
+
+		pool = mempool_create(1, ws_alloc, ws_free, NULL);
+
+		if (pool) {
+			pool = cmpxchg(&stor->pool, NULL, pool);
+			if (pool)
+				mempool_destroy(pool);
+		}
+
+		if (stor->pool == NULL) {
+			/* once per minute, no burst */
+			static DEFINE_RATELIMIT_STATE(_rs, 60 * HZ, 1);
+
+			if (__ratelimit(&_rs))
+				pr_warn("BTRFS: no compression workspaces, low memory, retrying\n");
+		}
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * mempool_resize() can return error
+	 * but we can safely ignore it and try resize again
+	 * on next allocate request
+	 */
+	if (stor->pool->min_nr != ncpu)
+		mempool_resize(stor->pool, ncpu);
+
+	return mempool_alloc(stor->pool, GFP_KERNEL);
+}
+
+/*
+ * Just for have similiar semantic with mempool_alloc_wrap
+ */
+static inline void mempool_free_wrap(void *element, struct workspace_stor *stor)
+{
+	mempool_free(element, stor->pool);
+}
+
 /*
  * This finds an available workspace or allocates a new one.
  * If it's not possible to allocate a new one, waits until there's one.
  * Preallocation makes a forward progress guarantees and we do not return
  * errors.
  */
-static struct list_head *__find_workspace(int type, bool heuristic)
+static struct list_head *find_workspace(int type)
 {
 	struct list_head *workspace;
 	int cpus = num_online_cpus();
@@ -890,19 +944,11 @@ static struct list_head *__find_workspace(int type, bool heuristic)
 	wait_queue_head_t *ws_wait;
 	int *free_ws;
 
-	if (heuristic) {
-		idle_ws	 = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.idle_ws;
-		ws_lock	 = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.ws_lock;
-		total_ws = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.total_ws;
-		ws_wait	 = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.ws_wait;
-		free_ws	 = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.free_ws;
-	} else {
-		idle_ws	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].idle_ws;
-		ws_lock	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].ws_lock;
-		total_ws = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].total_ws;
-		ws_wait	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].ws_wait;
-		free_ws	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].free_ws;
-	}
+	idle_ws	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].idle_ws;
+	ws_lock	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].ws_lock;
+	total_ws = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].total_ws;
+	ws_wait	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].ws_wait;
+	free_ws	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].free_ws;
 
 again:
 	spin_lock(ws_lock);
@@ -933,10 +979,7 @@ static struct list_head *__find_workspace(int type, bool heuristic)
 	 * context of btrfs_compress_bio/btrfs_compress_pages
 	 */
 	nofs_flag = memalloc_nofs_save();
-	if (heuristic)
-		workspace = alloc_heuristic_ws();
-	else
-		workspace = btrfs_compress_op[idx]->alloc_workspace();
+	workspace = btrfs_compress_op[idx]->alloc_workspace();
 	memalloc_nofs_restore(nofs_flag);
 
 	if (IS_ERR(workspace)) {
@@ -967,17 +1010,11 @@ static struct list_head *__find_workspace(int type, bool heuristic)
 	return workspace;
 }
 
-static struct list_head *find_workspace(int type)
-{
-	return __find_workspace(type, false);
-}
-
 /*
  * put a workspace struct back on the list or free it if we have enough
  * idle ones sitting around
  */
-static void __free_workspace(int type, struct list_head *workspace,
-			     bool heuristic)
+static void free_workspace(int type, struct list_head *workspace)
 {
 	int idx = type - 1;
 	struct list_head *idle_ws;
@@ -986,19 +1023,11 @@ static void __free_workspace(int type, struct list_head *workspace,
 	wait_queue_head_t *ws_wait;
 	int *free_ws;
 
-	if (heuristic) {
-		idle_ws	 = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.idle_ws;
-		ws_lock	 = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.ws_lock;
-		total_ws = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.total_ws;
-		ws_wait	 = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.ws_wait;
-		free_ws	 = &btrfs_heuristic_ws.free_ws;
-	} else {
-		idle_ws	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].idle_ws;
-		ws_lock	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].ws_lock;
-		total_ws = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].total_ws;
-		ws_wait	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].ws_wait;
-		free_ws	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].free_ws;
-	}
+	idle_ws	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].idle_ws;
+	ws_lock	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].ws_lock;
+	total_ws = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].total_ws;
+	ws_wait	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].ws_wait;
+	free_ws	 = &btrfs_comp_ws[idx].free_ws;
 
 	spin_lock(ws_lock);
 	if (*free_ws <= num_online_cpus()) {
@@ -1009,10 +1038,7 @@ static void __free_workspace(int type, struct list_head *workspace,
 	}
 	spin_unlock(ws_lock);
 
-	if (heuristic)
-		free_heuristic_ws(workspace);
-	else
-		btrfs_compress_op[idx]->free_workspace(workspace);
+	btrfs_compress_op[idx]->free_workspace(workspace);
 	atomic_dec(total_ws);
 wake:
 	/*
@@ -1023,11 +1049,6 @@ static void __free_workspace(int type, struct list_head *workspace,
 		wake_up(ws_wait);
 }
 
-static void free_workspace(int type, struct list_head *ws)
-{
-	return __free_workspace(type, ws, false);
-}
-
 /*
  * cleanup function for module exit
  */
@@ -1036,12 +1057,7 @@ static void free_workspaces(void)
 	struct list_head *workspace;
 	int i;
 
-	while (!list_empty(&btrfs_heuristic_ws.idle_ws)) {
-		workspace = btrfs_heuristic_ws.idle_ws.next;
-		list_del(workspace);
-		free_heuristic_ws(workspace);
-		atomic_dec(&btrfs_heuristic_ws.total_ws);
-	}
+	mempool_destroy(btrfs_heuristic_ws_stor.pool);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < BTRFS_COMPRESS_TYPES; i++) {
 		while (!list_empty(&btrfs_comp_ws[i].idle_ws)) {
@@ -1558,13 +1574,12 @@ static void heuristic_collect_sample(struct inode *inode, u64 start, u64 end,
  */
 int btrfs_compress_heuristic(struct inode *inode, u64 start, u64 end)
 {
-	struct list_head *ws_list = __find_workspace(0, true);
 	struct heuristic_ws *ws;
 	u32 i;
 	u8 byte;
 	int ret = 0;
 
-	ws = list_entry(ws_list, struct heuristic_ws, list);
+	ws = mempool_alloc_wrap(&btrfs_heuristic_ws_stor);
 
 	heuristic_collect_sample(inode, start, end, ws);
 
@@ -1627,7 +1642,7 @@ int btrfs_compress_heuristic(struct inode *inode, u64 start, u64 end)
 	}
 
 out:
-	__free_workspace(0, ws_list, true);
+	mempool_free_wrap(ws, &btrfs_heuristic_ws_stor);
 	return ret;
 }
 
