diff --git a/fs/fs-writeback.c b/fs/fs-writeback.c
index 0306c8e7d6b..0793961f769 100644
--- a/fs/fs-writeback.c
+++ b/fs/fs-writeback.c
@@ -738,6 +738,7 @@ static long wb_writeback(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 		.sync_mode		= args->sync_mode,
 		.older_than_this	= NULL,
 		.for_kupdate		= args->for_kupdate,
+		.for_background		= args->for_background,
 		.range_cyclic		= args->range_cyclic,
 	};
 	unsigned long oldest_jif;
diff --git a/fs/nfs/write.c b/fs/nfs/write.c
index 53eb26c16b5..c84b5cc1a94 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/write.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/write.c
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ static int wb_priority(struct writeback_control *wbc)
 {
 	if (wbc->for_reclaim)
 		return FLUSH_HIGHPRI | FLUSH_STABLE;
-	if (wbc->for_kupdate)
+	if (wbc->for_kupdate || wbc->for_background)
 		return FLUSH_LOWPRI;
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/include/linux/writeback.h b/include/linux/writeback.h
index 66ebddcff66..705f01fe413 100644
--- a/include/linux/writeback.h
+++ b/include/linux/writeback.h
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ struct writeback_control {
 	unsigned nonblocking:1;		/* Don't get stuck on request queues */
 	unsigned encountered_congestion:1; /* An output: a queue is full */
 	unsigned for_kupdate:1;		/* A kupdate writeback */
+	unsigned for_background:1;	/* A background writeback */
 	unsigned for_reclaim:1;		/* Invoked from the page allocator */
 	unsigned range_cyclic:1;	/* range_start is cyclic */
 	unsigned more_io:1;		/* more io to be dispatched */