static void
 xlog_cil_format_items(
        struct log              *log,
-       struct xfs_log_vec      *log_vector,
-       struct xlog_ticket      *ticket,
-       xfs_lsn_t               *start_lsn)
+       struct xfs_log_vec      *log_vector)
 {
        struct xfs_log_vec *lv;
 
-       if (start_lsn)
-               *start_lsn = log->l_cilp->xc_ctx->sequence;
-
        ASSERT(log_vector);
        for (lv = log_vector; lv; lv = lv->lv_next) {
                void    *ptr;
                        ptr += vec->i_len;
                }
                ASSERT(ptr == lv->lv_buf + lv->lv_buf_len);
+       }
+}
 
+static void
+xlog_cil_insert_items(
+       struct log              *log,
+       struct xfs_log_vec      *log_vector,
+       struct xlog_ticket      *ticket,
+       xfs_lsn_t               *start_lsn)
+{
+       struct xfs_log_vec *lv;
+
+       if (start_lsn)
+               *start_lsn = log->l_cilp->xc_ctx->sequence;
+
+       ASSERT(log_vector);
+       for (lv = log_vector; lv; lv = lv->lv_next)
                xlog_cil_insert(log, ticket, lv->lv_item, lv);
-       }
 }
 
 static void
                return XFS_ERROR(EIO);
        }
 
+       /*
+        * do all the hard work of formatting items (including memory
+        * allocation) outside the CIL context lock. This prevents stalling CIL
+        * pushes when we are low on memory and a transaction commit spends a
+        * lot of time in memory reclaim.
+        */
+       xlog_cil_format_items(log, log_vector);
+
        /* lock out background commit */
        down_read(&log->l_cilp->xc_ctx_lock);
-       xlog_cil_format_items(log, log_vector, tp->t_ticket, commit_lsn);
+       xlog_cil_insert_items(log, log_vector, tp->t_ticket, commit_lsn);
 
        /* check we didn't blow the reservation */
        if (tp->t_ticket->t_curr_res < 0)