diff --git a/fs/super.c b/fs/super.c
index b05cf47463d0..0902cfa6a12e 100644
--- a/fs/super.c
+++ b/fs/super.c
@@ -536,46 +536,6 @@ void drop_super(struct super_block *sb)
 
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(drop_super);
 
-/**
- * sync_supers - helper for periodic superblock writeback
- *
- * Call the write_super method if present on all dirty superblocks in
- * the system.  This is for the periodic writeback used by most older
- * filesystems.  For data integrity superblock writeback use
- * sync_filesystems() instead.
- *
- * Note: check the dirty flag before waiting, so we don't
- * hold up the sync while mounting a device. (The newly
- * mounted device won't need syncing.)
- */
-void sync_supers(void)
-{
-	struct super_block *sb, *p = NULL;
-
-	spin_lock(&sb_lock);
-	list_for_each_entry(sb, &super_blocks, s_list) {
-		if (hlist_unhashed(&sb->s_instances))
-			continue;
-		if (sb->s_op->write_super && sb->s_dirt) {
-			sb->s_count++;
-			spin_unlock(&sb_lock);
-
-			down_read(&sb->s_umount);
-			if (sb->s_root && sb->s_dirt && (sb->s_flags & MS_BORN))
-				sb->s_op->write_super(sb);
-			up_read(&sb->s_umount);
-
-			spin_lock(&sb_lock);
-			if (p)
-				__put_super(p);
-			p = sb;
-		}
-	}
-	if (p)
-		__put_super(p);
-	spin_unlock(&sb_lock);
-}
-
 /**
  *	iterate_supers - call function for all active superblocks
  *	@f: function to call
diff --git a/include/linux/backing-dev.h b/include/linux/backing-dev.h
index c97c6b9cd38e..2a9a9abc9126 100644
--- a/include/linux/backing-dev.h
+++ b/include/linux/backing-dev.h
@@ -124,7 +124,6 @@ void bdi_start_writeback(struct backing_dev_info *bdi, long nr_pages,
 void bdi_start_background_writeback(struct backing_dev_info *bdi);
 int bdi_writeback_thread(void *data);
 int bdi_has_dirty_io(struct backing_dev_info *bdi);
-void bdi_arm_supers_timer(void);
 void bdi_wakeup_thread_delayed(struct backing_dev_info *bdi);
 void bdi_lock_two(struct bdi_writeback *wb1, struct bdi_writeback *wb2);
 
diff --git a/include/linux/fs.h b/include/linux/fs.h
index 38dba16c4176..aa110476a95b 100644
--- a/include/linux/fs.h
+++ b/include/linux/fs.h
@@ -1491,7 +1491,6 @@ struct sb_writers {
 struct super_block {
 	struct list_head	s_list;		/* Keep this first */
 	dev_t			s_dev;		/* search index; _not_ kdev_t */
-	unsigned char		s_dirt;
 	unsigned char		s_blocksize_bits;
 	unsigned long		s_blocksize;
 	loff_t			s_maxbytes;	/* Max file size */
@@ -1861,7 +1860,6 @@ struct super_operations {
 	int (*drop_inode) (struct inode *);
 	void (*evict_inode) (struct inode *);
 	void (*put_super) (struct super_block *);
-	void (*write_super) (struct super_block *);
 	int (*sync_fs)(struct super_block *sb, int wait);
 	int (*freeze_fs) (struct super_block *);
 	int (*unfreeze_fs) (struct super_block *);
@@ -2397,7 +2395,6 @@ extern int vfs_fsync_range(struct file *file, loff_t start, loff_t end,
 			   int datasync);
 extern int vfs_fsync(struct file *file, int datasync);
 extern int generic_write_sync(struct file *file, loff_t pos, loff_t count);
-extern void sync_supers(void);
 extern void emergency_sync(void);
 extern void emergency_remount(void);
 #ifdef CONFIG_BLOCK
diff --git a/mm/backing-dev.c b/mm/backing-dev.c
index 6b4718e2ee34..b41823cc05e6 100644
--- a/mm/backing-dev.c
+++ b/mm/backing-dev.c
@@ -39,12 +39,6 @@ DEFINE_SPINLOCK(bdi_lock);
 LIST_HEAD(bdi_list);
 LIST_HEAD(bdi_pending_list);
 
-static struct task_struct *sync_supers_tsk;
-static struct timer_list sync_supers_timer;
-
-static int bdi_sync_supers(void *);
-static void sync_supers_timer_fn(unsigned long);
-
 void bdi_lock_two(struct bdi_writeback *wb1, struct bdi_writeback *wb2)
 {
 	if (wb1 < wb2) {
@@ -250,12 +244,6 @@ static int __init default_bdi_init(void)
 {
 	int err;
 
-	sync_supers_tsk = kthread_run(bdi_sync_supers, NULL, "sync_supers");
-	BUG_ON(IS_ERR(sync_supers_tsk));
-
-	setup_timer(&sync_supers_timer, sync_supers_timer_fn, 0);
-	bdi_arm_supers_timer();
-
 	err = bdi_init(&default_backing_dev_info);
 	if (!err)
 		bdi_register(&default_backing_dev_info, NULL, "default");
@@ -270,46 +258,6 @@ int bdi_has_dirty_io(struct backing_dev_info *bdi)
 	return wb_has_dirty_io(&bdi->wb);
 }
 
-/*
- * kupdated() used to do this. We cannot do it from the bdi_forker_thread()
- * or we risk deadlocking on ->s_umount. The longer term solution would be
- * to implement sync_supers_bdi() or similar and simply do it from the
- * bdi writeback thread individually.
- */
-static int bdi_sync_supers(void *unused)
-{
-	set_user_nice(current, 0);
-
-	while (!kthread_should_stop()) {
-		set_current_state(TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE);
-		schedule();
-
-		/*
-		 * Do this periodically, like kupdated() did before.
-		 */
-		sync_supers();
-	}
-
-	return 0;
-}
-
-void bdi_arm_supers_timer(void)
-{
-	unsigned long next;
-
-	if (!dirty_writeback_interval)
-		return;
-
-	next = msecs_to_jiffies(dirty_writeback_interval * 10) + jiffies;
-	mod_timer(&sync_supers_timer, round_jiffies_up(next));
-}
-
-static void sync_supers_timer_fn(unsigned long unused)
-{
-	wake_up_process(sync_supers_tsk);
-	bdi_arm_supers_timer();
-}
-
 static void wakeup_timer_fn(unsigned long data)
 {
 	struct backing_dev_info *bdi = (struct backing_dev_info *)data;
diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c
index e5363f34e025..5ad5ce23c1e0 100644
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c
+++ b/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -1532,7 +1532,6 @@ int dirty_writeback_centisecs_handler(ctl_table *table, int write,
 	void __user *buffer, size_t *length, loff_t *ppos)
 {
 	proc_dointvec(table, write, buffer, length, ppos);
-	bdi_arm_supers_timer();
 	return 0;
 }