diff --git a/fs/ceph/mds_client.c b/fs/ceph/mds_client.c
index 219a2cc2bf3c..785fe489ef4b 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/mds_client.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/mds_client.c
@@ -2800,12 +2800,11 @@ char *ceph_mdsc_build_path(struct ceph_mds_client *mdsc, struct dentry *dentry,
 
 	if (pos < 0) {
 		/*
-		 * A rename didn't occur, but somehow we didn't end up where
-		 * we thought we would. Throw a warning and try again.
+		 * The path is longer than PATH_MAX and this function
+		 * cannot ever succeed.  Creating paths that long is
+		 * possible with Ceph, but Linux cannot use them.
 		 */
-		pr_warn_client(cl, "did not end path lookup where expected (pos = %d)\n",
-			       pos);
-		goto retry;
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENAMETOOLONG);
 	}
 
 	*pbase = base;