diff --git a/fs/jbd/checkpoint.c b/fs/jbd/checkpoint.c
index fe8521933243..1bd8d4acc6f2 100644
--- a/fs/jbd/checkpoint.c
+++ b/fs/jbd/checkpoint.c
@@ -127,14 +127,29 @@ void __log_wait_for_space(journal_t *journal)
 
 		/*
 		 * Test again, another process may have checkpointed while we
-		 * were waiting for the checkpoint lock
+		 * were waiting for the checkpoint lock. If there are no
+		 * outstanding transactions there is nothing to checkpoint and
+		 * we can't make progress. Abort the journal in this case.
 		 */
 		spin_lock(&journal->j_state_lock);
+		spin_lock(&journal->j_list_lock);
 		nblocks = jbd_space_needed(journal);
 		if (__log_space_left(journal) < nblocks) {
+			int chkpt = journal->j_checkpoint_transactions != NULL;
+
+			spin_unlock(&journal->j_list_lock);
 			spin_unlock(&journal->j_state_lock);
-			log_do_checkpoint(journal);
+			if (chkpt) {
+				log_do_checkpoint(journal);
+			} else {
+				printk(KERN_ERR "%s: no transactions\n",
+				       __func__);
+				journal_abort(journal, 0);
+			}
+
 			spin_lock(&journal->j_state_lock);
+		} else {
+			spin_unlock(&journal->j_list_lock);
 		}
 		mutex_unlock(&journal->j_checkpoint_mutex);
 	}