return err;
 }
 
+static void delayed_delete(struct work_struct *ws)
+{
+       mdk_rdev_t *rdev = container_of(ws, mdk_rdev_t, del_work);
+       kobject_del(&rdev->kobj);
+}
+
 static void unbind_rdev_from_array(mdk_rdev_t * rdev)
 {
        char b[BDEVNAME_SIZE];
        printk(KERN_INFO "md: unbind<%s>\n", bdevname(rdev->bdev,b));
        rdev->mddev = NULL;
        sysfs_remove_link(&rdev->kobj, "block");
-       kobject_del(&rdev->kobj);
+
+       /* We need to delay this, otherwise we can deadlock when
+        * writing to 'remove' to "dev/state"
+        */
+       INIT_WORK(&rdev->del_work, delayed_delete);
+       schedule_work(&rdev->del_work);
 }
 
 /*
                                sysfs_remove_link(&mddev->kobj, nm);
                        }
 
+               /* make sure all delayed_delete calls have finished */
+               flush_scheduled_work();
+
                export_array(mddev);
 
                mddev->array_size = 0;