diff --git a/drivers/md/Kconfig b/drivers/md/Kconfig
index 349ff8813401..906103c168ea 100644
--- a/drivers/md/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/md/Kconfig
@@ -503,13 +503,24 @@ config DM_LOG_WRITES
 	  If unsure, say N.
 
 config DM_INTEGRITY
-	tristate "Integrity target"
+	tristate "Integrity target support"
 	depends on BLK_DEV_DM
 	select BLK_DEV_INTEGRITY
 	select DM_BUFIO
 	select CRYPTO
 	select ASYNC_XOR
 	---help---
-	   This is the integrity target.
+	  This device-mapper target emulates a block device that has
+	  additional per-sector tags that can be used for storing
+	  integrity information.
+
+	  This integrity target is used with the dm-crypt target to
+	  provide authenticated disk encryption or it can be used
+	  standalone.
+
+	  To compile this code as a module, choose M here: the module will
+	  be called dm-integrity.
+
+	  If unsure, say N.
 
 endif # MD
diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-cache-metadata.c b/drivers/md/dm-cache-metadata.c
index 8568dbd50ba4..4a4e9c75fc4c 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-cache-metadata.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-cache-metadata.c
@@ -1624,17 +1624,19 @@ void dm_cache_metadata_set_stats(struct dm_cache_metadata *cmd,
 
 int dm_cache_commit(struct dm_cache_metadata *cmd, bool clean_shutdown)
 {
-	int r;
+	int r = -EINVAL;
 	flags_mutator mutator = (clean_shutdown ? set_clean_shutdown :
 				 clear_clean_shutdown);
 
 	WRITE_LOCK(cmd);
+	if (cmd->fail_io)
+		goto out;
+
 	r = __commit_transaction(cmd, mutator);
 	if (r)
 		goto out;
 
 	r = __begin_transaction(cmd);
-
 out:
 	WRITE_UNLOCK(cmd);
 	return r;
@@ -1646,7 +1648,8 @@ int dm_cache_get_free_metadata_block_count(struct dm_cache_metadata *cmd,
 	int r = -EINVAL;
 
 	READ_LOCK(cmd);
-	r = dm_sm_get_nr_free(cmd->metadata_sm, result);
+	if (!cmd->fail_io)
+		r = dm_sm_get_nr_free(cmd->metadata_sm, result);
 	READ_UNLOCK(cmd);
 
 	return r;
@@ -1658,7 +1661,8 @@ int dm_cache_get_metadata_dev_size(struct dm_cache_metadata *cmd,
 	int r = -EINVAL;
 
 	READ_LOCK(cmd);
-	r = dm_sm_get_nr_blocks(cmd->metadata_sm, result);
+	if (!cmd->fail_io)
+		r = dm_sm_get_nr_blocks(cmd->metadata_sm, result);
 	READ_UNLOCK(cmd);
 
 	return r;
diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-cache-policy-smq.c b/drivers/md/dm-cache-policy-smq.c
index e0c40aec5e96..72479bd61e11 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-cache-policy-smq.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-cache-policy-smq.c
@@ -1120,28 +1120,30 @@ static bool clean_target_met(struct smq_policy *mq, bool idle)
 	 * Cache entries may not be populated.  So we cannot rely on the
 	 * size of the clean queue.
 	 */
-	unsigned nr_clean = from_cblock(mq->cache_size) - q_size(&mq->dirty);
+	unsigned nr_clean;
 
-	if (idle)
+	if (idle) {
 		/*
 		 * We'd like to clean everything.
 		 */
 		return q_size(&mq->dirty) == 0u;
-	else
-		return (nr_clean + btracker_nr_writebacks_queued(mq->bg_work)) >=
-		       percent_to_target(mq, CLEAN_TARGET);
+	}
+
+	nr_clean = from_cblock(mq->cache_size) - q_size(&mq->dirty);
+	return (nr_clean + btracker_nr_writebacks_queued(mq->bg_work)) >=
+		percent_to_target(mq, CLEAN_TARGET);
 }
 
 static bool free_target_met(struct smq_policy *mq, bool idle)
 {
-	unsigned nr_free = from_cblock(mq->cache_size) -
-			   mq->cache_alloc.nr_allocated;
+	unsigned nr_free;
 
-	if (idle)
-		return (nr_free + btracker_nr_demotions_queued(mq->bg_work)) >=
-		       percent_to_target(mq, FREE_TARGET);
-	else
+	if (!idle)
 		return true;
+
+	nr_free = from_cblock(mq->cache_size) - mq->cache_alloc.nr_allocated;
+	return (nr_free + btracker_nr_demotions_queued(mq->bg_work)) >=
+		percent_to_target(mq, FREE_TARGET);
 }
 
 /*----------------------------------------------------------------*/
@@ -1214,7 +1216,11 @@ static void queue_promotion(struct smq_policy *mq, dm_oblock_t oblock,
 		return;
 
 	if (allocator_empty(&mq->cache_alloc)) {
-		if (!free_target_met(mq, false))
+		/*
+		 * We always claim to be 'idle' to ensure some demotions happen
+		 * with continuous loads.
+		 */
+		if (!free_target_met(mq, true))
 			queue_demotion(mq);
 		return;
 	}