diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 4449ca6..ccb3388 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -253,10 +253,22 @@
 #endif
 };
 
+/*
+ * Try to keep at least this much lowmem free.  Do not allow normal
+ * allocations below this point, only high priority ones. Automatically
+ * tuned according to the amount of memory in the system.
+ */
 int min_free_kbytes = 1024;
 int user_min_free_kbytes = -1;
 int watermark_scale_factor = 10;
 
+/*
+ * Extra memory for the system to try freeing. Used to temporarily
+ * free memory, to make space for new workloads. Anyone can allocate
+ * down to the min watermarks controlled by min_free_kbytes above.
+ */
+int extra_free_kbytes = 0;
+
 static unsigned long __meminitdata nr_kernel_pages;
 static unsigned long __meminitdata nr_all_pages;
 static unsigned long __meminitdata dma_reserve;
@@ -6664,6 +6676,7 @@
 static void __setup_per_zone_wmarks(void)
 {
 	unsigned long pages_min = min_free_kbytes >> (PAGE_SHIFT - 10);
+	unsigned long pages_low = extra_free_kbytes >> (PAGE_SHIFT - 10);
 	unsigned long lowmem_pages = 0;
 	struct zone *zone;
 	unsigned long flags;
@@ -6675,11 +6688,14 @@
 	}
 
 	for_each_zone(zone) {
-		u64 tmp;
+		u64 min, low;
 
 		spin_lock_irqsave(&zone->lock, flags);
-		tmp = (u64)pages_min * zone->managed_pages;
-		do_div(tmp, lowmem_pages);
+		min = (u64)pages_min * zone->managed_pages;
+		do_div(min, lowmem_pages);
+		low = (u64)pages_low * zone->managed_pages;
+		do_div(low, vm_total_pages);
+
 		if (is_highmem(zone)) {
 			/*
 			 * __GFP_HIGH and PF_MEMALLOC allocations usually don't
@@ -6700,7 +6716,7 @@
 			 * If it's a lowmem zone, reserve a number of pages
 			 * proportionate to the zone's size.
 			 */
-			zone->watermark[WMARK_MIN] = tmp;
+			zone->watermark[WMARK_MIN] = min;
 		}
 
 		/*
@@ -6708,12 +6724,14 @@
 		 * scale factor in proportion to available memory, but
 		 * ensure a minimum size on small systems.
 		 */
-		tmp = max_t(u64, tmp >> 2,
+		min = max_t(u64, min >> 2,
 			    mult_frac(zone->managed_pages,
 				      watermark_scale_factor, 10000));
 
-		zone->watermark[WMARK_LOW]  = min_wmark_pages(zone) + tmp;
-		zone->watermark[WMARK_HIGH] = min_wmark_pages(zone) + tmp * 2;
+		zone->watermark[WMARK_LOW]  = min_wmark_pages(zone) +
+					low + min;
+		zone->watermark[WMARK_HIGH] = min_wmark_pages(zone) +
+					low + min * 2;
 
 		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&zone->lock, flags);
 	}
@@ -6794,7 +6812,7 @@
 /*
  * min_free_kbytes_sysctl_handler - just a wrapper around proc_dointvec() so
  *	that we can call two helper functions whenever min_free_kbytes
- *	changes.
+ *	or extra_free_kbytes changes.
  */
 int min_free_kbytes_sysctl_handler(struct ctl_table *table, int write,
 	void __user *buffer, size_t *length, loff_t *ppos)