diff --git a/kmod/src/server.c b/kmod/src/server.c
index fc07a1a5..d077d858 100644
--- a/kmod/src/server.c
+++ b/kmod/src/server.c
@@ -584,6 +584,7 @@ static void scoutfs_server_commit_func(struct work_struct *work)
 	struct server_info *server = container_of(work, struct server_info,
 						  commit_work);
 	struct super_block *sb = server->sb;
+	struct scoutfs_super_block *super = &SCOUTFS_SB(sb)->super;
 	struct commit_waiter *cw;
 	struct commit_waiter *pos;
 	struct llist_node *node;
@@ -611,7 +612,7 @@ static void scoutfs_server_commit_func(struct work_struct *work)
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-	ret = scoutfs_write_dirty_super(sb);
+	ret = scoutfs_write_super(sb, super);
 	if (ret) {
 		scoutfs_err(sb, "server error writing super block: %d", ret);
 		goto out;
@@ -623,7 +624,6 @@ static void scoutfs_server_commit_func(struct work_struct *work)
 	server->stable_manifest_root = SCOUTFS_SB(sb)->super.manifest.root;
 	write_seqcount_end(&server->stable_seqcount);
 
-	scoutfs_advance_dirty_super(sb);
 	ret = 0;
 
 out:
@@ -2325,7 +2325,6 @@ static void scoutfs_server_worker(struct work_struct *work)
 
 	complete(&server->start_comp);
 
-	scoutfs_advance_dirty_super(sb);
 	server->stable_manifest_root = super->manifest.root;
 
 	scoutfs_info(sb, "server started on "SIN_FMT, SIN_ARG(&sin));
diff --git a/kmod/src/super.c b/kmod/src/super.c
index cc6b37c3..b4dcf658 100644
--- a/kmod/src/super.c
+++ b/kmod/src/super.c
@@ -221,28 +221,15 @@ static const struct super_operations scoutfs_super_ops = {
 };
 
 /*
- * The caller advances the sequence number in the super block header
- * every time it wants to dirty it and eventually write it to reference
- * dirty data that's been written.
- */
-void scoutfs_advance_dirty_super(struct super_block *sb)
-{
-	struct scoutfs_sb_info *sbi = SCOUTFS_SB(sb);
-	struct scoutfs_super_block *super = &sbi->super;
-
-	le64_add_cpu(&super->hdr.seq, 1);
-	trace_scoutfs_advance_dirty_super(sb, le64_to_cpu(super->hdr.seq));
-}
-
-/*
- * The caller is responsible for setting the super header's blkno
- * and seq to something reasonable.
+ * Write the caller's super.  The caller has always read a valid super
+ * before modifying and writing it.  The caller's super is modified
+ * to reflect the write.
  *
  * XXX it'd be pretty easy to preallocate to avoid failure here.
  */
-int scoutfs_write_dirty_super(struct super_block *sb)
+int scoutfs_write_super(struct super_block *sb,
+			struct scoutfs_super_block *caller)
 {
-	struct scoutfs_sb_info *sbi = SCOUTFS_SB(sb);
 	struct scoutfs_super_block *super;
 	struct page *page;
 	int ret;
@@ -251,9 +238,10 @@ int scoutfs_write_dirty_super(struct super_block *sb)
 	if (!page)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	le64_add_cpu(&caller->hdr.seq, 1);
+
 	super = page_address(page);
-	memcpy(super, &sbi->super, sizeof(*super));
-	super->hdr.magic = cpu_to_le32(SCOUTFS_BLOCK_MAGIC_SUPER);
+	memcpy(super, caller, sizeof(*super));
 	super->hdr.crc = scoutfs_block_calc_crc(&super->hdr);
 
 	ret = scoutfs_bio_write(sb, &page, le64_to_cpu(super->hdr.blkno), 1);
diff --git a/kmod/src/super.h b/kmod/src/super.h
index 08004731..741f2ddc 100644
--- a/kmod/src/super.h
+++ b/kmod/src/super.h
@@ -127,8 +127,8 @@ static inline bool SCOUTFS_HAS_SBI(struct super_block *sb)
 
 int scoutfs_read_super(struct super_block *sb,
 		       struct scoutfs_super_block *super_res);
-void scoutfs_advance_dirty_super(struct super_block *sb);
-int scoutfs_write_dirty_super(struct super_block *sb);
+int scoutfs_write_super(struct super_block *sb,
+		        struct scoutfs_super_block *super);
 
 /* to keep this out of the ioctl.h public interface definition */
 long scoutfs_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg);