diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 869035717048..d90c31951b90 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -2206,12 +2206,16 @@ static bool unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(const struct alloc_context *ac,
  * list of requested migratetype, possibly along with other pages from the same
  * block, depending on fragmentation avoidance heuristics. Returns true if
  * fallback was found so that __rmqueue_smallest() can grab it.
+ *
+ * The use of signed ints for order and current_order is a deliberate
+ * deviation from the rest of this file, to make the for loop
+ * condition simpler.
  */
 static inline bool
-__rmqueue_fallback(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order, int start_migratetype)
+__rmqueue_fallback(struct zone *zone, int order, int start_migratetype)
 {
 	struct free_area *area;
-	unsigned int current_order;
+	int current_order;
 	struct page *page;
 	int fallback_mt;
 	bool can_steal;
@@ -2221,8 +2225,7 @@ __rmqueue_fallback(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order, int start_migratetype)
 	 * approximates finding the pageblock with the most free pages, which
 	 * would be too costly to do exactly.
 	 */
-	for (current_order = MAX_ORDER-1;
-				current_order >= order && current_order <= MAX_ORDER-1;
+	for (current_order = MAX_ORDER - 1; current_order >= order;
 				--current_order) {
 		area = &(zone->free_area[current_order]);
 		fallback_mt = find_suitable_fallback(area, current_order,