diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt
index 1fbd4eb7b64a..9f5481bdc5a4 100644
--- a/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ Currently, these files are in /proc/sys/vm:
 - numa_zonelist_order
 - oom_dump_tasks
 - oom_kill_allocating_task
+- overcommit_kbytes
 - overcommit_memory
 - overcommit_ratio
 - page-cluster
@@ -574,6 +575,17 @@ The default value is 0.
 
 ==============================================================
 
+overcommit_kbytes:
+
+When overcommit_memory is set to 2, the committed address space is not
+permitted to exceed swap plus this amount of physical RAM. See below.
+
+Note: overcommit_kbytes is the counterpart of overcommit_ratio. Only one
+of them may be specified at a time. Setting one disables the other (which
+then appears as 0 when read).
+
+==============================================================
+
 overcommit_memory:
 
 This value contains a flag that enables memory overcommitment.
diff --git a/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting b/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting
index 8eaa2fc4b8fa..cbfaaa674118 100644
--- a/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting
+++ b/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ The Linux kernel supports the following overcommit handling modes
 
 2	-	Don't overcommit. The total address space commit
 		for the system is not permitted to exceed swap + a
-		configurable percentage (default is 50) of physical RAM.
-		Depending on the percentage you use, in most situations
+		configurable amount (default is 50%) of physical RAM.
+		Depending on the amount you use, in most situations
 		this means a process will not be killed while accessing
 		pages but will receive errors on memory allocation as
 		appropriate.
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ The Linux kernel supports the following overcommit handling modes
 
 The overcommit policy is set via the sysctl `vm.overcommit_memory'.
 
-The overcommit percentage is set via `vm.overcommit_ratio'.
+The overcommit amount can be set via `vm.overcommit_ratio' (percentage)
+or `vm.overcommit_kbytes' (absolute value).
 
 The current overcommit limit and amount committed are viewable in
 /proc/meminfo as CommitLimit and Committed_AS respectively.
diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index 4c0c01afc19b..a512dd836931 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -57,6 +57,15 @@ extern int sysctl_legacy_va_layout;
 extern unsigned long sysctl_user_reserve_kbytes;
 extern unsigned long sysctl_admin_reserve_kbytes;
 
+extern int sysctl_overcommit_memory;
+extern int sysctl_overcommit_ratio;
+extern unsigned long sysctl_overcommit_kbytes;
+
+extern int overcommit_ratio_handler(struct ctl_table *, int, void __user *,
+				    size_t *, loff_t *);
+extern int overcommit_kbytes_handler(struct ctl_table *, int, void __user *,
+				    size_t *, loff_t *);
+
 #define nth_page(page,n) pfn_to_page(page_to_pfn((page)) + (n))
 
 /* to align the pointer to the (next) page boundary */
diff --git a/include/linux/mman.h b/include/linux/mman.h
index 7f7f8dae4b1d..16373c8f5f57 100644
--- a/include/linux/mman.h
+++ b/include/linux/mman.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 extern int sysctl_overcommit_memory;
 extern int sysctl_overcommit_ratio;
+extern unsigned long sysctl_overcommit_kbytes;
 extern struct percpu_counter vm_committed_as;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_SMP
diff --git a/kernel/sysctl.c b/kernel/sysctl.c
index c8da99f905cf..332cefcdb04b 100644
--- a/kernel/sysctl.c
+++ b/kernel/sysctl.c
@@ -95,8 +95,6 @@
 #if defined(CONFIG_SYSCTL)
 
 /* External variables not in a header file. */
-extern int sysctl_overcommit_memory;
-extern int sysctl_overcommit_ratio;
 extern int max_threads;
 extern int suid_dumpable;
 #ifdef CONFIG_COREDUMP
@@ -1121,7 +1119,14 @@ static struct ctl_table vm_table[] = {
 		.data		= &sysctl_overcommit_ratio,
 		.maxlen		= sizeof(sysctl_overcommit_ratio),
 		.mode		= 0644,
-		.proc_handler	= proc_dointvec,
+		.proc_handler	= overcommit_ratio_handler,
+	},
+	{
+		.procname	= "overcommit_kbytes",
+		.data		= &sysctl_overcommit_kbytes,
+		.maxlen		= sizeof(sysctl_overcommit_kbytes),
+		.mode		= 0644,
+		.proc_handler	= overcommit_kbytes_handler,
 	},
 	{
 		.procname	= "page-cluster", 
diff --git a/mm/mmap.c b/mm/mmap.c
index 834b2d785f1e..39552de6e1db 100644
--- a/mm/mmap.c
+++ b/mm/mmap.c
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(vm_get_page_prot);
 
 int sysctl_overcommit_memory __read_mostly = OVERCOMMIT_GUESS;  /* heuristic overcommit */
 int sysctl_overcommit_ratio __read_mostly = 50;	/* default is 50% */
+unsigned long sysctl_overcommit_kbytes __read_mostly;
 int sysctl_max_map_count __read_mostly = DEFAULT_MAX_MAP_COUNT;
 unsigned long sysctl_user_reserve_kbytes __read_mostly = 1UL << 17; /* 128MB */
 unsigned long sysctl_admin_reserve_kbytes __read_mostly = 1UL << 13; /* 8MB */
diff --git a/mm/nommu.c b/mm/nommu.c
index fec093adad9c..8740213b1647 100644
--- a/mm/nommu.c
+++ b/mm/nommu.c
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ unsigned long highest_memmap_pfn;
 struct percpu_counter vm_committed_as;
 int sysctl_overcommit_memory = OVERCOMMIT_GUESS; /* heuristic overcommit */
 int sysctl_overcommit_ratio = 50; /* default is 50% */
+unsigned long sysctl_overcommit_kbytes __read_mostly;
 int sysctl_max_map_count = DEFAULT_MAX_MAP_COUNT;
 int sysctl_nr_trim_pages = CONFIG_NOMMU_INITIAL_TRIM_EXCESS;
 unsigned long sysctl_user_reserve_kbytes __read_mostly = 1UL << 17; /* 128MB */
diff --git a/mm/util.c b/mm/util.c
index 808f375648e7..a24aa22f2473 100644
--- a/mm/util.c
+++ b/mm/util.c
@@ -404,13 +404,45 @@ struct address_space *page_mapping(struct page *page)
 	return mapping;
 }
 
+int overcommit_ratio_handler(struct ctl_table *table, int write,
+			     void __user *buffer, size_t *lenp,
+			     loff_t *ppos)
+{
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = proc_dointvec(table, write, buffer, lenp, ppos);
+	if (ret == 0 && write)
+		sysctl_overcommit_kbytes = 0;
+	return ret;
+}
+
+int overcommit_kbytes_handler(struct ctl_table *table, int write,
+			     void __user *buffer, size_t *lenp,
+			     loff_t *ppos)
+{
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = proc_doulongvec_minmax(table, write, buffer, lenp, ppos);
+	if (ret == 0 && write)
+		sysctl_overcommit_ratio = 0;
+	return ret;
+}
+
 /*
  * Committed memory limit enforced when OVERCOMMIT_NEVER policy is used
  */
 unsigned long vm_commit_limit(void)
 {
-	return ((totalram_pages - hugetlb_total_pages())
-		* sysctl_overcommit_ratio / 100) + total_swap_pages;
+	unsigned long allowed;
+
+	if (sysctl_overcommit_kbytes)
+		allowed = sysctl_overcommit_kbytes >> (PAGE_SHIFT - 10);
+	else
+		allowed = ((totalram_pages - hugetlb_total_pages())
+			   * sysctl_overcommit_ratio / 100);
+	allowed += total_swap_pages;
+
+	return allowed;
 }