diff --git a/fs/ceph/mds_client.c b/fs/ceph/mds_client.c
index da9fcf48ab6c..741ca7d10032 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/mds_client.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/mds_client.c
@@ -2447,12 +2447,11 @@ retry:
 
 	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("build_path did not end path lookup where "
-			"expected, pos is %d\n", pos);
-		goto retry;
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENAMETOOLONG);
 	}
 
 	*pbase = base;