diff -u --recursive --new-file linux-2.4.15-ping/fs/nfs/pagelist.c linux-2.4.15-write/fs/nfs/pagelist.c
--- linux-2.4.15-ping/fs/nfs/pagelist.c	Thu Nov 22 14:09:19 2001
+++ linux-2.4.15-write/fs/nfs/pagelist.c	Thu Nov 22 18:21:20 2001
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@
 		BUG();
 	}
 #endif
-	for (pos = head->prev; pos != head; pos = pos->prev) {
+	list_for_each_prev(pos, head) {
 		struct nfs_page	*p = nfs_list_entry(pos);
 		if (page_index(p->wb_page) < pg_idx)
 			break;
diff -u --recursive --new-file linux-2.4.15-ping/fs/nfs/write.c linux-2.4.15-write/fs/nfs/write.c
--- linux-2.4.15-ping/fs/nfs/write.c	Thu Nov 22 14:09:19 2001
+++ linux-2.4.15-write/fs/nfs/write.c	Thu Nov 22 18:26:17 2001
@@ -305,18 +305,30 @@
 
 /*
  * Insert a write request into an inode
+ * Note: we sort the list in order to be able to optimize nfs_find_request()
+ *	 & co. for the 'write append' case. For 2.5 we may want to consider
+ *	 some form of hashing so as to perform well on random writes.
  */
 static inline void
 nfs_inode_add_request(struct inode *inode, struct nfs_page *req)
 {
+	struct list_head *pos, *head;
+	unsigned long pg_idx = page_index(req->wb_page);
+
 	if (!list_empty(&req->wb_hash))
 		return;
 	if (!NFS_WBACK_BUSY(req))
 		printk(KERN_ERR "NFS: unlocked request attempted hashed!\n");
-	if (list_empty(&inode->u.nfs_i.writeback))
+	head = &inode->u.nfs_i.writeback;
+	if (list_empty(head))
 		igrab(inode);
+	list_for_each_prev(pos, head) {
+		struct nfs_page *entry = nfs_inode_wb_entry(pos);
+		if (page_index(entry->wb_page) < pg_idx)
+			break;
+	}
 	inode->u.nfs_i.npages++;
-	list_add(&req->wb_hash, &inode->u.nfs_i.writeback);
+	list_add(&req->wb_hash, pos);
 	req->wb_count++;
 }
 
@@ -354,15 +366,18 @@
 static inline struct nfs_page *
 _nfs_find_request(struct inode *inode, struct page *page)
 {
-	struct list_head	*head, *next;
+	struct list_head	*head, *pos;
+	unsigned long pg_idx = page_index(page);
 
 	head = &inode->u.nfs_i.writeback;
-	next = head->next;
-	while (next != head) {
-		struct nfs_page *req = nfs_inode_wb_entry(next);
-		next = next->next;
-		if (page_index(req->wb_page) != page_index(page))
+	list_for_each_prev(pos, head) {
+		struct nfs_page *req = nfs_inode_wb_entry(pos);
+		unsigned long found_idx = page_index(req->wb_page);
+
+		if (pg_idx < found_idx)
 			continue;
+		if (pg_idx != found_idx)
+			break;
 		req->wb_count++;
 		return req;
 	}
@@ -444,20 +459,20 @@
 	else
 		idx_end = idx_start + npages - 1;
 
-	spin_lock(&nfs_wreq_lock);
 	head = &inode->u.nfs_i.writeback;
-	p = head->next;
-	while (p != head) {
+ restart:
+	spin_lock(&nfs_wreq_lock);
+	list_for_each_prev(p, head) {
 		unsigned long pg_idx;
 		struct nfs_page *req = nfs_inode_wb_entry(p);
 
-		p = p->next;
-
 		if (file && req->wb_file != file)
 			continue;
 
 		pg_idx = page_index(req->wb_page);
-		if (pg_idx < idx_start || pg_idx > idx_end)
+		if (pg_idx < idx_start)
+			break;
+		if (pg_idx > idx_end)
 			continue;
 
 		if (!NFS_WBACK_BUSY(req))
@@ -468,9 +483,8 @@
 		nfs_release_request(req);
 		if (error < 0)
 			return error;
-		spin_lock(&nfs_wreq_lock);
-		p = head->next;
 		res++;
+		goto restart;
 	}
 	spin_unlock(&nfs_wreq_lock);
 	return res;
diff -u --recursive --new-file linux-2.4.15-ping/include/linux/list.h linux-2.4.15-write/include/linux/list.h
--- linux-2.4.15-ping/include/linux/list.h	Mon Nov  5 21:42:13 2001
+++ linux-2.4.15-write/include/linux/list.h	Thu Nov 22 18:21:20 2001
@@ -162,6 +162,16 @@
 	for (pos = (head)->next, n = pos->next; pos != (head); \
 		pos = n, n = pos->next)
 
+/**
+ * list_for_each_prev	-	iterate over a list in reverse order
+ * @pos:	the &struct list_head to use as a loop counter.
+ * @head:	the head for your list.
+ */
+#define list_for_each_prev(pos, head) \
+	for (pos = (head)->prev, prefetch(pos->prev); pos != (head); \
+        	pos = pos->prev, prefetch(pos->prev))
+        	
+
 #endif /* __KERNEL__ || _LVM_H_INCLUDE */
 
 #endif