* There can be just one barrier request so we use
                         * a per-device variable for error reporting.
                         * Note that you can't touch the bio after end_io_acct
+                        *
+                        * We ignore -EOPNOTSUPP for empty flush reported by
+                        * underlying devices. We assume that if the device
+                        * doesn't support empty barriers, it doesn't need
+                        * cache flushing commands.
                         */
-                       if (!md->barrier_error && io_error != -EOPNOTSUPP)
+                       if (!md->barrier_error &&
+                           !(bio_empty_barrier(bio) && io_error == -EOPNOTSUPP))
                                md->barrier_error = io_error;
                        end_io_acct(io);
                        free_io(md, io);
 
        if (!bio_empty_barrier(bio)) {
                __split_and_process_bio(md, bio);
-               dm_flush(md);
+               /*
+                * If the request isn't supported, don't waste time with
+                * the second flush.
+                */
+               if (md->barrier_error != -EOPNOTSUPP)
+                       dm_flush(md);
        }
 
        if (md->barrier_error != DM_ENDIO_REQUEUE)