return -ENOENT;
 }
 
+/*
+ * DIR_NLINK feature is set if 1) nlinks > EXT4_LINK_MAX or 2) nlinks == 2,
+ * since this indicates that nlinks count was previously 1.
+ */
+static void ext4_inc_count(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode)
+{
+       inc_nlink(inode);
+       if (is_dx(inode) && inode->i_nlink > 1) {
+               /* limit is 16-bit i_links_count */
+               if (inode->i_nlink >= EXT4_LINK_MAX || inode->i_nlink == 2) {
+                       inode->i_nlink = 1;
+                       EXT4_SET_RO_COMPAT_FEATURE(inode->i_sb,
+                                             EXT4_FEATURE_RO_COMPAT_DIR_NLINK);
+               }
+       }
+}
+
+/*
+ * If a directory had nlink == 1, then we should let it be 1. This indicates
+ * directory has >EXT4_LINK_MAX subdirs.
+ */
+static void ext4_dec_count(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode)
+{
+       drop_nlink(inode);
+       if (S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode) && inode->i_nlink == 0)
+               inc_nlink(inode);
+}
+
+
 static int ext4_add_nondir(handle_t *handle,
                struct dentry *dentry, struct inode *inode)
 {
        struct ext4_dir_entry_2 * de;
        int err, retries = 0;
 
-       if (dir->i_nlink >= EXT4_LINK_MAX)
+       if (EXT4_DIR_LINK_MAX(dir))
                return -EMLINK;
 
 retry:
        inode->i_size = EXT4_I(inode)->i_disksize = inode->i_sb->s_blocksize;
        dir_block = ext4_bread (handle, inode, 0, 1, &err);
        if (!dir_block) {
-               drop_nlink(inode); /* is this nlink == 0? */
+               ext4_dec_count(handle, inode); /* is this nlink == 0? */
                ext4_mark_inode_dirty(handle, inode);
                iput (inode);
                goto out_stop;
                iput (inode);
                goto out_stop;
        }
-       inc_nlink(dir);
+       ext4_inc_count(handle, dir);
        ext4_update_dx_flag(dir);
        ext4_mark_inode_dirty(handle, dir);
        d_instantiate(dentry, inode);
        retval = ext4_delete_entry(handle, dir, de, bh);
        if (retval)
                goto end_rmdir;
-       if (inode->i_nlink != 2)
+       if (!EXT4_DIR_LINK_EMPTY(inode))
                ext4_warning (inode->i_sb, "ext4_rmdir",
-                             "empty directory has nlink!=2 (%d)",
+                             "empty directory has too many links (%d)",
                              inode->i_nlink);
        inode->i_version++;
        clear_nlink(inode);
        ext4_orphan_add(handle, inode);
        inode->i_ctime = dir->i_ctime = dir->i_mtime = ext4_current_time(inode);
        ext4_mark_inode_dirty(handle, inode);
-       drop_nlink(dir);
+       ext4_dec_count(handle, dir);
        ext4_update_dx_flag(dir);
        ext4_mark_inode_dirty(handle, dir);
 
        dir->i_ctime = dir->i_mtime = ext4_current_time(dir);
        ext4_update_dx_flag(dir);
        ext4_mark_inode_dirty(handle, dir);
-       drop_nlink(inode);
+       ext4_dec_count(handle, inode);
        if (!inode->i_nlink)
                ext4_orphan_add(handle, inode);
        inode->i_ctime = ext4_current_time(inode);
                err = __page_symlink(inode, symname, l,
                                mapping_gfp_mask(inode->i_mapping) & ~__GFP_FS);
                if (err) {
-                       drop_nlink(inode);
+                       ext4_dec_count(handle, inode);
                        ext4_mark_inode_dirty(handle, inode);
                        iput (inode);
                        goto out_stop;
        struct inode *inode = old_dentry->d_inode;
        int err, retries = 0;
 
-       if (inode->i_nlink >= EXT4_LINK_MAX)
+       if (EXT4_DIR_LINK_MAX(inode))
                return -EMLINK;
+
        /*
         * Return -ENOENT if we've raced with unlink and i_nlink is 0.  Doing
         * otherwise has the potential to corrupt the orphan inode list.
                handle->h_sync = 1;
 
        inode->i_ctime = ext4_current_time(inode);
-       inc_nlink(inode);
+       ext4_inc_count(handle, inode);
        atomic_inc(&inode->i_count);
 
        err = ext4_add_nondir(handle, dentry, inode);
        }
 
        if (new_inode) {
-               drop_nlink(new_inode);
+               ext4_dec_count(handle, new_inode);
                new_inode->i_ctime = ext4_current_time(new_inode);
        }
        old_dir->i_ctime = old_dir->i_mtime = ext4_current_time(old_dir);
                PARENT_INO(dir_bh->b_data) = cpu_to_le32(new_dir->i_ino);
                BUFFER_TRACE(dir_bh, "call ext4_journal_dirty_metadata");
                ext4_journal_dirty_metadata(handle, dir_bh);
-               drop_nlink(old_dir);
+               ext4_dec_count(handle, old_dir);
                if (new_inode) {
-                       drop_nlink(new_inode);
+                       /* checked empty_dir above, can't have another parent,
+                        * ext3_dec_count() won't work for many-linked dirs */
+                       new_inode->i_nlink = 0;
                } else {
-                       inc_nlink(new_dir);
+                       ext4_inc_count(handle, new_dir);
                        ext4_update_dx_flag(new_dir);
                        ext4_mark_inode_dirty(handle, new_dir);
                }