diff --git a/include/linux/writeback.h b/include/linux/writeback.h
index e585657e9831..259e9ea58cab 100644
--- a/include/linux/writeback.h
+++ b/include/linux/writeback.h
@@ -125,8 +125,8 @@ struct file;
 int dirty_writeback_centisecs_handler(struct ctl_table *, int, struct file *,
 				      void __user *, size_t *, loff_t *);
 
-void get_dirty_limits(long *pbackground, long *pdirty, long *pbdi_dirty,
-		 struct backing_dev_info *bdi);
+void get_dirty_limits(unsigned long *pbackground, unsigned long *pdirty,
+		      unsigned long *pbdi_dirty, struct backing_dev_info *bdi);
 
 void page_writeback_init(void);
 void balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited_nr(struct address_space *mapping,
diff --git a/mm/backing-dev.c b/mm/backing-dev.c
index 801c08b046e6..6f80beddd8a4 100644
--- a/mm/backing-dev.c
+++ b/mm/backing-dev.c
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@ static void bdi_debug_init(void)
 static int bdi_debug_stats_show(struct seq_file *m, void *v)
 {
 	struct backing_dev_info *bdi = m->private;
-	long background_thresh;
-	long dirty_thresh;
-	long bdi_thresh;
+	unsigned long background_thresh;
+	unsigned long dirty_thresh;
+	unsigned long bdi_thresh;
 
 	get_dirty_limits(&background_thresh, &dirty_thresh, &bdi_thresh, bdi);
 
diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c
index 08d2b960b294..4d4074cff300 100644
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c
+++ b/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -362,13 +362,13 @@ unsigned long determine_dirtyable_memory(void)
 }
 
 void
-get_dirty_limits(long *pbackground, long *pdirty, long *pbdi_dirty,
-		 struct backing_dev_info *bdi)
+get_dirty_limits(unsigned long *pbackground, unsigned long *pdirty,
+		 unsigned long *pbdi_dirty, struct backing_dev_info *bdi)
 {
 	int background_ratio;		/* Percentages */
 	int dirty_ratio;
-	long background;
-	long dirty;
+	unsigned long background;
+	unsigned long dirty;
 	unsigned long available_memory = determine_dirtyable_memory();
 	struct task_struct *tsk;
 
@@ -423,9 +423,9 @@ static void balance_dirty_pages(struct address_space *mapping)
 {
 	long nr_reclaimable, bdi_nr_reclaimable;
 	long nr_writeback, bdi_nr_writeback;
-	long background_thresh;
-	long dirty_thresh;
-	long bdi_thresh;
+	unsigned long background_thresh;
+	unsigned long dirty_thresh;
+	unsigned long bdi_thresh;
 	unsigned long pages_written = 0;
 	unsigned long write_chunk = sync_writeback_pages();
 
@@ -580,8 +580,8 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(balance_dirty_pages_ratelimited_nr);
 
 void throttle_vm_writeout(gfp_t gfp_mask)
 {
-	long background_thresh;
-	long dirty_thresh;
+	unsigned long background_thresh;
+	unsigned long dirty_thresh;
 
         for ( ; ; ) {
 		get_dirty_limits(&background_thresh, &dirty_thresh, NULL, NULL);
@@ -624,8 +624,8 @@ static void background_writeout(unsigned long _min_pages)
 	};
 
 	for ( ; ; ) {
-		long background_thresh;
-		long dirty_thresh;
+		unsigned long background_thresh;
+		unsigned long dirty_thresh;
 
 		get_dirty_limits(&background_thresh, &dirty_thresh, NULL, NULL);
 		if (global_page_state(NR_FILE_DIRTY) +