diff -ur linux-2.4.21/fs/nfs/file.c nfs/fs/nfs/file.c
--- linux-2.4.21/fs/nfs/file.c	2003-10-01 15:21:20.000000000 +0200
+++ nfs/fs/nfs/file.c	2003-10-01 15:30:09.000000000 +0200
@@ -325,8 +325,16 @@
 	status2 = filemap_fdatawait(inode->i_mapping);
 	if (status2 && !status)
 		status = status2;
-	if (status < 0)
-		return status;
+	/* Note: Ignore status if we're cleaning up locks on process exit */
+	if (status < 0) {
+		if (!(current->flags & PF_EXITING) || fl->fl_type != F_UNLCK)
+			return status;
+		if (status != -ERESTARTSYS && status != -EINTR) {
+			printk(KERN_NOTICE "nfs_lock: process exiting, ignoring error %d "
+					"that occurred when flushing data\n", -status);
+		}
+	}
+
 
 	lock_kernel();
 	status = nlmclnt_proc(inode, cmd, fl);