diff --git a/fs/libfs.c b/fs/libfs.c
index d93842d..1247ee9 100644
--- a/fs/libfs.c
+++ b/fs/libfs.c
@@ -220,6 +220,12 @@
 	root = new_inode(s);
 	if (!root)
 		goto Enomem;
+	/*
+	 * since this is the first inode, make it number 1. New inodes created
+	 * after this must take care not to collide with it (by passing
+	 * max_reserved of 1 to iunique).
+	 */
+	root->i_ino = 1;
 	root->i_mode = S_IFDIR | S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR;
 	root->i_uid = root->i_gid = 0;
 	root->i_atime = root->i_mtime = root->i_ctime = CURRENT_TIME;
@@ -360,6 +366,11 @@
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/*
+ * the inodes created here are not hashed. If you use iunique to generate
+ * unique inode values later for this filesystem, then you must take care
+ * to pass it an appropriate max_reserved value to avoid collisions.
+ */
 int simple_fill_super(struct super_block *s, int magic, struct tree_descr *files)
 {
 	struct inode *inode;
@@ -376,6 +387,11 @@
 	inode = new_inode(s);
 	if (!inode)
 		return -ENOMEM;
+	/*
+	 * because the root inode is 1, the files array must not contain an
+	 * entry at index 1
+	 */
+	inode->i_ino = 1;
 	inode->i_mode = S_IFDIR | 0755;
 	inode->i_uid = inode->i_gid = 0;
 	inode->i_blocks = 0;
@@ -391,6 +407,13 @@
 	for (i = 0; !files->name || files->name[0]; i++, files++) {
 		if (!files->name)
 			continue;
+
+		/* warn if it tries to conflict with the root inode */
+		if (unlikely(i == 1))
+			printk(KERN_WARNING "%s: %s passed in a files array"
+				"with an index of 1!\n", __func__,
+				s->s_type->name);
+
 		dentry = d_alloc_name(root, files->name);
 		if (!dentry)
 			goto out;