diff --git a/kmod/src/filerw.c b/kmod/src/filerw.c
index 40429532..6f9a322d 100644
--- a/kmod/src/filerw.c
+++ b/kmod/src/filerw.c
@@ -625,6 +625,11 @@ retry:
 	/* can't re-enter fs, have trans */
 	flags |= AOP_FLAG_NOFS;
 
+	/* generic write_end updates i_size and calls dirty_inode */
+	ret = scoutfs_dirty_inode_item(inode);
+	if (ret)
+		goto out;
+
 	/* make sure our get_block gets a chance to alloc */
 	clear_mapped_page_buffers(page);
 
diff --git a/kmod/src/inode.c b/kmod/src/inode.c
index da3e150f..98a005ca 100644
--- a/kmod/src/inode.c
+++ b/kmod/src/inode.c
@@ -275,6 +275,34 @@ void scoutfs_update_inode_item(struct inode *inode)
 	trace_scoutfs_update_inode(inode);
 }
 
+/*
+ * sop->dirty_inode() can't return failure.  Our use of it has to be
+ * careful to pin the inode during a transaction.  The generic write
+ * paths pin the inode in write_begin and get called to update the inode
+ * in write_end.
+ *
+ * The caller should have a trans but it's cheap for us to grab it
+ * ourselves to make sure.
+ *
+ * This will holler at us if a caller didn't pin the inode and we
+ * couldn't dirty the inode ourselves.
+ */
+void scoutfs_dirty_inode(struct inode *inode, int flags)
+{
+	struct super_block *sb = inode->i_sb;
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = scoutfs_hold_trans(sb);
+	if (ret == 0) {
+		ret = scoutfs_dirty_inode_item(inode);
+		if (ret == 0)
+			scoutfs_update_inode_item(inode);
+		scoutfs_release_trans(sb);
+	}
+
+	WARN_ON_ONCE(ret);
+}
+
 /*
  * A quick atomic sample of the last inode number that's been allocated.
  */
diff --git a/kmod/src/inode.h b/kmod/src/inode.h
index f303ba97..52ad52a6 100644
--- a/kmod/src/inode.h
+++ b/kmod/src/inode.h
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ int scoutfs_orphan_inode(struct inode *inode);
 
 struct inode *scoutfs_iget(struct super_block *sb, u64 ino);
 int scoutfs_dirty_inode_item(struct inode *inode);
+void scoutfs_dirty_inode(struct inode *inode, int flags);
 void scoutfs_update_inode_item(struct inode *inode);
 struct inode *scoutfs_new_inode(struct super_block *sb, struct inode *dir,
 				umode_t mode, dev_t rdev);
diff --git a/kmod/src/super.c b/kmod/src/super.c
index f7f0c81f..a668f8a2 100644
--- a/kmod/src/super.c
+++ b/kmod/src/super.c
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ static int scoutfs_statfs(struct dentry *dentry, struct kstatfs *kst)
 
 static const struct super_operations scoutfs_super_ops = {
 	.alloc_inode = scoutfs_alloc_inode,
+	.dirty_inode = scoutfs_dirty_inode,
 	.drop_inode = scoutfs_drop_inode,
 	.evict_inode = scoutfs_evict_inode,
 	.destroy_inode = scoutfs_destroy_inode,