diff --git a/fs/nilfs2/inode.c b/fs/nilfs2/inode.c
index 2e6ac8e9203..2534af8d2b5 100644
--- a/fs/nilfs2/inode.c
+++ b/fs/nilfs2/inode.c
@@ -315,11 +315,8 @@ struct inode *nilfs_new_inode(struct inode *dir, int mode)
 		/* No lock is needed; iget() ensures it. */
 	}
 
-	ii->i_flags = NILFS_I(dir)->i_flags;
-	if (S_ISLNK(mode))
-		ii->i_flags &= ~(FS_IMMUTABLE_FL | FS_APPEND_FL);
-	if (!S_ISDIR(mode))
-		ii->i_flags &= ~FS_DIRSYNC_FL;
+	ii->i_flags = nilfs_mask_flags(
+		mode, NILFS_I(dir)->i_flags & NILFS_FL_INHERITED);
 
 	/* ii->i_file_acl = 0; */
 	/* ii->i_dir_acl = 0; */
diff --git a/fs/nilfs2/nilfs.h b/fs/nilfs2/nilfs.h
index 777e8fd0430..3e3acb1fdd2 100644
--- a/fs/nilfs2/nilfs.h
+++ b/fs/nilfs2/nilfs.h
@@ -212,6 +212,23 @@ static inline int nilfs_init_acl(struct inode *inode, struct inode *dir)
 
 #define NILFS_ATIME_DISABLE
 
+/* Flags that should be inherited by new inodes from their parent. */
+#define NILFS_FL_INHERITED						\
+	(FS_SECRM_FL | FS_UNRM_FL | FS_COMPR_FL | FS_SYNC_FL |		\
+	 FS_IMMUTABLE_FL | FS_APPEND_FL | FS_NODUMP_FL | FS_NOATIME_FL |\
+	 FS_COMPRBLK_FL | FS_NOCOMP_FL | FS_NOTAIL_FL | FS_DIRSYNC_FL)
+
+/* Mask out flags that are inappropriate for the given type of inode. */
+static inline __u32 nilfs_mask_flags(umode_t mode, __u32 flags)
+{
+	if (S_ISDIR(mode))
+		return flags;
+	else if (S_ISREG(mode))
+		return flags & ~(FS_DIRSYNC_FL | FS_TOPDIR_FL);
+	else
+		return flags & (FS_NODUMP_FL | FS_NOATIME_FL);
+}
+
 /* dir.c */
 extern int nilfs_add_link(struct dentry *, struct inode *);
 extern ino_t nilfs_inode_by_name(struct inode *, const struct qstr *);