diff --git a/drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c b/drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c
index c171988a9f517d7009319674265c47a10859a8c3..7e13d2df9af384f0b048faa36c427171dab30fa0 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include <linux/i2c.h>
 #include <linux/i2c-dev.h>
 #include <linux/smp_lock.h>
+#include <linux/jiffies.h>
 #include <asm/uaccess.h>
 
 static struct i2c_driver i2cdev_driver;
@@ -422,7 +423,10 @@ static long i2cdev_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
 		client->adapter->retries = arg;
 		break;
 	case I2C_TIMEOUT:
-		client->adapter->timeout = arg;
+		/* For historical reasons, user-space sets the timeout
+		 * value in units of 10 ms.
+		 */
+		client->adapter->timeout = msecs_to_jiffies(arg * 10);
 		break;
 	default:
 		/* NOTE:  returning a fault code here could cause trouble
diff --git a/include/linux/i2c-dev.h b/include/linux/i2c-dev.h
index 311315b56b611a7b2b9d44a2b930eb8c3b9b8def..fd53bfd2647044be7d48d26adc4de31b6c5d238e 100644
--- a/include/linux/i2c-dev.h
+++ b/include/linux/i2c-dev.h
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
  */
 #define I2C_RETRIES	0x0701	/* number of times a device address should
 				   be polled when not acknowledging */
-#define I2C_TIMEOUT	0x0702	/* set timeout in jiffies - call with int */
+#define I2C_TIMEOUT	0x0702	/* set timeout in units of 10 ms */
 
 /* NOTE: Slave address is 7 or 10 bits, but 10-bit addresses
  * are NOT supported! (due to code brokenness)
diff --git a/include/linux/i2c.h b/include/linux/i2c.h
index fcfbfea3af72d670d7100ca221014c7dece36363..c86c3b07604c2cf46cd492ef948e826f2d9c58d0 100644
--- a/include/linux/i2c.h
+++ b/include/linux/i2c.h
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ struct i2c_adapter {
 	struct mutex bus_lock;
 	struct mutex clist_lock;
 
-	int timeout;
+	int timeout;			/* in jiffies */
 	int retries;
 	struct device dev;		/* the adapter device */