diff --git a/fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c b/fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c
index 4595a65db729..3aa52701d04a 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c
@@ -3621,10 +3621,9 @@ int btrfs_check_data_free_space(struct inode *inode, u64 bytes)
 	/* make sure bytes are sectorsize aligned */
 	bytes = ALIGN(bytes, root->sectorsize);
 
-	if (root == root->fs_info->tree_root ||
-	    BTRFS_I(inode)->location.objectid == BTRFS_FREE_INO_OBJECTID) {
-		alloc_chunk = 0;
+	if (btrfs_is_free_space_inode(inode)) {
 		committed = 1;
+		ASSERT(current->journal_info);
 	}
 
 	data_sinfo = fs_info->data_sinfo;
@@ -3652,6 +3651,16 @@ again:
 			spin_unlock(&data_sinfo->lock);
 alloc:
 			alloc_target = btrfs_get_alloc_profile(root, 1);
+			/*
+			 * It is ugly that we don't call nolock join
+			 * transaction for the free space inode case here.
+			 * But it is safe because we only do the data space
+			 * reservation for the free space cache in the
+			 * transaction context, the common join transaction
+			 * just increase the counter of the current transaction
+			 * handler, doesn't try to acquire the trans_lock of
+			 * the fs.
+			 */
 			trans = btrfs_join_transaction(root);
 			if (IS_ERR(trans))
 				return PTR_ERR(trans);