diff --git a/fs/inotify_user.c b/fs/inotify_user.c
index 851005998cd4..dc7e1f619748 100644
--- a/fs/inotify_user.c
+++ b/fs/inotify_user.c
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ asmlinkage long sys_inotify_init1(int flags)
 	struct file *filp;
 	int fd, ret;
 
-	if (flags & ~IN_CLOEXEC)
+	if (flags & ~(IN_CLOEXEC | IN_NONBLOCK))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	fd = get_unused_fd_flags(flags & O_CLOEXEC);
@@ -613,7 +613,7 @@ asmlinkage long sys_inotify_init1(int flags)
 	filp->f_path.dentry = dget(inotify_mnt->mnt_root);
 	filp->f_mapping = filp->f_path.dentry->d_inode->i_mapping;
 	filp->f_mode = FMODE_READ;
-	filp->f_flags = O_RDONLY;
+	filp->f_flags = O_RDONLY | (flags & O_NONBLOCK);
 	filp->private_data = dev;
 
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&dev->events);
diff --git a/include/linux/inotify.h b/include/linux/inotify.h
index 72ef82120512..bd578578a8b9 100644
--- a/include/linux/inotify.h
+++ b/include/linux/inotify.h
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 #ifndef _LINUX_INOTIFY_H
 #define _LINUX_INOTIFY_H
 
-/* For O_CLOEXEC */
+/* For O_CLOEXEC and O_NONBLOCK */
 #include <linux/fcntl.h>
 #include <linux/types.h>
 
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ struct inotify_event {
 
 /* Flags for sys_inotify_init1.  */
 #define IN_CLOEXEC O_CLOEXEC
+#define IN_NONBLOCK O_NONBLOCK
 
 #ifdef __KERNEL__