diff --git a/fs/cifs/file.c b/fs/cifs/file.c
index 8ea6ca5..39354c2 100644
--- a/fs/cifs/file.c
+++ b/fs/cifs/file.c
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@
 #include "cifs_fs_sb.h"
 #include "fscache.h"
 
+static bool warned_on_bad_open_flags;  /* globals init to false automatically */
+
+
 static inline int cifs_convert_flags(unsigned int flags)
 {
 	if ((flags & O_ACCMODE) == O_RDONLY)
@@ -72,10 +75,17 @@ static u32 cifs_posix_convert_flags(unsigned int flags)
 	else if ((flags & O_ACCMODE) == O_RDWR)
 		posix_flags = SMB_O_RDWR;
 
-	if (flags & O_CREAT)
+	if (flags & O_CREAT) {
 		posix_flags |= SMB_O_CREAT;
-	if (flags & O_EXCL)
-		posix_flags |= SMB_O_EXCL;
+		if (flags & O_EXCL)
+			posix_flags |= SMB_O_EXCL;
+	} else if (flags & O_EXCL) {
+		warned_on_bad_open_flags = true;
+		cERROR(1, "Application has incorrectly set O_EXCL flag but "
+				"not O_CREAT on file open. Ignoring O_EXCL");
+	}
+
+
 	if (flags & O_TRUNC)
 		posix_flags |= SMB_O_TRUNC;
 	/* be safe and imply O_SYNC for O_DSYNC */