diff --git a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
index 2dc7a1d..f147310 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
+++ b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
@@ -487,6 +487,18 @@
 	and CONFIG_NET_DMA is enabled.
 	Default: 4096
 
+tcp_thin_linear_timeouts - BOOLEAN
+	Enable dynamic triggering of linear timeouts for thin streams.
+	If set, a check is performed upon retransmission by timeout to
+	determine if the stream is thin (less than 4 packets in flight).
+	As long as the stream is found to be thin, up to 6 linear
+	timeouts may be performed before exponential backoff mode is
+	initiated. This improves retransmission latency for
+	non-aggressive thin streams, often found to be time-dependent.
+	For more information on thin streams, see
+	Documentation/networking/tcp-thin.txt
+	Default: 0
+
 UDP variables:
 
 udp_mem - vector of 3 INTEGERs: min, pressure, max
diff --git a/include/linux/tcp.h b/include/linux/tcp.h
index 7fee8a4..3ba8b07 100644
--- a/include/linux/tcp.h
+++ b/include/linux/tcp.h
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@
 #define TCP_CONGESTION		13	/* Congestion control algorithm */
 #define TCP_MD5SIG		14	/* TCP MD5 Signature (RFC2385) */
 #define TCP_COOKIE_TRANSACTIONS	15	/* TCP Cookie Transactions */
+#define TCP_THIN_LINEAR_TIMEOUTS 16      /* Use linear timeouts for thin streams*/
 
 /* for TCP_INFO socket option */
 #define TCPI_OPT_TIMESTAMPS	1
@@ -340,7 +341,9 @@
 	u32	frto_highmark;	/* snd_nxt when RTO occurred */
 	u16	advmss;		/* Advertised MSS			*/
 	u8	frto_counter;	/* Number of new acks after RTO */
-	u8	nonagle;	/* Disable Nagle algorithm?             */
+	u8	nonagle     : 4,/* Disable Nagle algorithm?             */
+		thin_lto    : 1,/* Use linear timeouts for thin streams */
+		unused      : 3;
 
 /* RTT measurement */
 	u32	srtt;		/* smoothed round trip time << 3	*/
diff --git a/include/net/tcp.h b/include/net/tcp.h
index 0bdc3f6..6278fc7 100644
--- a/include/net/tcp.h
+++ b/include/net/tcp.h
@@ -196,6 +196,9 @@
 #define TCP_NAGLE_CORK		2	/* Socket is corked	    */
 #define TCP_NAGLE_PUSH		4	/* Cork is overridden for already queued data */
 
+/* TCP thin-stream limits */
+#define TCP_THIN_LINEAR_RETRIES 6       /* After 6 linear retries, do exp. backoff */
+
 extern struct inet_timewait_death_row tcp_death_row;
 
 /* sysctl variables for tcp */
@@ -241,6 +244,7 @@
 extern int sysctl_tcp_slow_start_after_idle;
 extern int sysctl_tcp_max_ssthresh;
 extern int sysctl_tcp_cookie_size;
+extern int sysctl_tcp_thin_linear_timeouts;
 
 extern atomic_t tcp_memory_allocated;
 extern struct percpu_counter tcp_sockets_allocated;
diff --git a/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c b/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c
index 7e3712c..e6a2460 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c
@@ -576,6 +576,13 @@
 		.proc_handler	= proc_dointvec
 	},
 	{
+		.procname       = "tcp_thin_linear_timeouts",
+		.data           = &sysctl_tcp_thin_linear_timeouts,
+		.maxlen         = sizeof(int),
+		.mode           = 0644,
+		.proc_handler   = proc_dointvec
+	},
+	{
 		.procname	= "udp_mem",
 		.data		= &sysctl_udp_mem,
 		.maxlen		= sizeof(sysctl_udp_mem),
diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp.c b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
index e471d03..21bae9a 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
@@ -2229,6 +2229,13 @@
 		}
 		break;
 
+	case TCP_THIN_LINEAR_TIMEOUTS:
+		if (val < 0 || val > 1)
+			err = -EINVAL;
+		else
+			tp->thin_lto = val;
+		break;
+
 	case TCP_CORK:
 		/* When set indicates to always queue non-full frames.
 		 * Later the user clears this option and we transmit
diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
index de7d1bf..a17629b 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 int sysctl_tcp_retries1 __read_mostly = TCP_RETR1;
 int sysctl_tcp_retries2 __read_mostly = TCP_RETR2;
 int sysctl_tcp_orphan_retries __read_mostly;
+int sysctl_tcp_thin_linear_timeouts __read_mostly;
 
 static void tcp_write_timer(unsigned long);
 static void tcp_delack_timer(unsigned long);
@@ -415,7 +416,25 @@
 	icsk->icsk_retransmits++;
 
 out_reset_timer:
-	icsk->icsk_rto = min(icsk->icsk_rto << 1, TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	/* If stream is thin, use linear timeouts. Since 'icsk_backoff' is
+	 * used to reset timer, set to 0. Recalculate 'icsk_rto' as this
+	 * might be increased if the stream oscillates between thin and thick,
+	 * thus the old value might already be too high compared to the value
+	 * set by 'tcp_set_rto' in tcp_input.c which resets the rto without
+	 * backoff. Limit to TCP_THIN_LINEAR_RETRIES before initiating
+	 * exponential backoff behaviour to avoid continue hammering
+	 * linear-timeout retransmissions into a black hole
+	 */
+	if (sk->sk_state == TCP_ESTABLISHED &&
+	    (tp->thin_lto || sysctl_tcp_thin_linear_timeouts) &&
+	    tcp_stream_is_thin(tp) &&
+	    icsk->icsk_retransmits <= TCP_THIN_LINEAR_RETRIES) {
+		icsk->icsk_backoff = 0;
+		icsk->icsk_rto = min(__tcp_set_rto(tp), TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	} else {
+		/* Use normal (exponential) backoff */
+		icsk->icsk_rto = min(icsk->icsk_rto << 1, TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	}
 	inet_csk_reset_xmit_timer(sk, ICSK_TIME_RETRANS, icsk->icsk_rto, TCP_RTO_MAX);
 	if (retransmits_timed_out(sk, sysctl_tcp_retries1 + 1))
 		__sk_dst_reset(sk);