diff --git a/drivers/md/bcache/alloc.c b/drivers/md/bcache/alloc.c
index 7a28232d868b..de85b3af3b39 100644
--- a/drivers/md/bcache/alloc.c
+++ b/drivers/md/bcache/alloc.c
@@ -327,10 +327,11 @@ static int bch_allocator_thread(void *arg)
 		 * possibly issue discards to them, then we add the bucket to
 		 * the free list:
 		 */
-		while (!fifo_empty(&ca->free_inc)) {
+		while (1) {
 			long bucket;
 
-			fifo_pop(&ca->free_inc, bucket);
+			if (!fifo_pop(&ca->free_inc, bucket))
+				break;
 
 			if (ca->discard) {
 				mutex_unlock(&ca->set->bucket_lock);