diff --git a/Documentation/i2c/DMA-considerations b/Documentation/i2c/DMA-considerations
index 966610aa4620..203002054120 100644
--- a/Documentation/i2c/DMA-considerations
+++ b/Documentation/i2c/DMA-considerations
@@ -50,10 +50,14 @@ bounce buffer. But you don't need to care about that detail, just use the
 returned buffer. If NULL is returned, the threshold was not met or a bounce
 buffer could not be allocated. Fall back to PIO in that case.
 
-In any case, a buffer obtained from above needs to be released. It ensures data
-is copied back to the message and a potentially used bounce buffer is freed::
+In any case, a buffer obtained from above needs to be released. Another helper
+function ensures a potentially used bounce buffer is freed::
 
-	i2c_release_dma_safe_msg_buf(msg, dma_buf);
+	i2c_put_dma_safe_msg_buf(dma_buf, msg, xferred);
+
+The last argument 'xferred' controls if the buffer is synced back to the
+message or not. No syncing is needed in cases setting up DMA had an error and
+there was no data transferred.
 
 The bounce buffer handling from the core is generic and simple. It will always
 allocate a new bounce buffer. If you want a more sophisticated handling (e.g.
diff --git a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-sh_mobile.c b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-sh_mobile.c
index 439e8778f849..279d0e5bd433 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-sh_mobile.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-sh_mobile.c
@@ -507,7 +507,7 @@ static void sh_mobile_i2c_dma_callback(void *data)
 	pd->pos = pd->msg->len;
 	pd->stop_after_dma = true;
 
-	i2c_release_dma_safe_msg_buf(pd->msg, pd->dma_buf);
+	i2c_put_dma_safe_msg_buf(pd->dma_buf, pd->msg, true);
 
 	iic_set_clr(pd, ICIC, 0, ICIC_TDMAE | ICIC_RDMAE);
 }
diff --git a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c
index f15737763608..9ee9a15e7134 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c
@@ -2293,21 +2293,22 @@ u8 *i2c_get_dma_safe_msg_buf(struct i2c_msg *msg, unsigned int threshold)
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(i2c_get_dma_safe_msg_buf);
 
 /**
- * i2c_release_dma_safe_msg_buf - release DMA safe buffer and sync with i2c_msg
- * @msg: the message to be synced with
+ * i2c_put_dma_safe_msg_buf - release DMA safe buffer and sync with i2c_msg
  * @buf: the buffer obtained from i2c_get_dma_safe_msg_buf(). May be NULL.
+ * @msg: the message which the buffer corresponds to
+ * @xferred: bool saying if the message was transferred
  */
-void i2c_release_dma_safe_msg_buf(struct i2c_msg *msg, u8 *buf)
+void i2c_put_dma_safe_msg_buf(u8 *buf, struct i2c_msg *msg, bool xferred)
 {
 	if (!buf || buf == msg->buf)
 		return;
 
-	if (msg->flags & I2C_M_RD)
+	if (xferred && msg->flags & I2C_M_RD)
 		memcpy(msg->buf, buf, msg->len);
 
 	kfree(buf);
 }
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(i2c_release_dma_safe_msg_buf);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(i2c_put_dma_safe_msg_buf);
 
 MODULE_AUTHOR("Simon G. Vogl <simon@tk.uni-linz.ac.at>");
 MODULE_DESCRIPTION("I2C-Bus main module");
diff --git a/include/linux/i2c.h b/include/linux/i2c.h
index b79387fd57da..65b4eaed1d96 100644
--- a/include/linux/i2c.h
+++ b/include/linux/i2c.h
@@ -855,7 +855,7 @@ static inline u8 i2c_8bit_addr_from_msg(const struct i2c_msg *msg)
 }
 
 u8 *i2c_get_dma_safe_msg_buf(struct i2c_msg *msg, unsigned int threshold);
-void i2c_release_dma_safe_msg_buf(struct i2c_msg *msg, u8 *buf);
+void i2c_put_dma_safe_msg_buf(u8 *buf, struct i2c_msg *msg, bool xferred);
 
 int i2c_handle_smbus_host_notify(struct i2c_adapter *adap, unsigned short addr);
 /**