Index: linux-2.6.5-7.311/include/linux/ext3_fs.h
===================================================================
--- linux-2.6.5-7.311.orig/include/linux/ext3_fs.h
+++ linux-2.6.5-7.311/include/linux/ext3_fs.h
@@ -752,6 +752,13 @@ struct dir_private_info {
 #define ERR_BAD_DX_DIR	-75000
 
 /*
+ * Indicates that ctime should not be updated in ext3_xattr_set_handle()
+ */
+#ifndef XATTR_NO_CTIME
+#define XATTR_NO_CTIME 0x80
+#endif
+
+/*
  * Function prototypes
  */
 
Index: linux-2.6.5-7.311/fs/ext3/xattr.c
===================================================================
--- linux-2.6.5-7.311.orig/fs/ext3/xattr.c
+++ linux-2.6.5-7.311/fs/ext3/xattr.c
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
 
 static int ext3_xattr_set_handle2(handle_t *, struct inode *,
 				  struct buffer_head *,
-				  struct ext3_xattr_header *);
+				  struct ext3_xattr_header *, int);
 
 static int ext3_xattr_cache_insert(struct buffer_head *);
 static struct buffer_head *ext3_xattr_cache_find(struct inode *,
@@ -1302,7 +1302,7 @@ skip_replace:
 	}
 	error = ext3_xattr_set_handle2(handle, inode, bh,
 				       IS_LAST_ENTRY(ENTRY(header+1)) ?
-				       NULL : header);
+				       NULL : header, flags);
 
 cleanup:
 	brelse(bh);
@@ -1318,7 +1318,7 @@ cleanup:
 static int
 ext3_xattr_set_handle2(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode,
 		       struct buffer_head *old_bh,
-		       struct ext3_xattr_header *header)
+		       struct ext3_xattr_header *header, int flags)
 {
 	struct super_block *sb = inode->i_sb;
 	struct buffer_head *new_bh = NULL;
@@ -1401,7 +1401,8 @@ getblk_failed:
 
 	/* Update the inode. */
 	EXT3_I(inode)->i_file_acl = new_bh ? new_bh->b_blocknr : 0;
-	inode->i_ctime = CURRENT_TIME;
+	if (!(flags & XATTR_NO_CTIME))
+		inode->i_ctime = CURRENT_TIME;
 	ext3_mark_inode_dirty(handle, inode);
 	if (IS_SYNC(inode))
 		handle->h_sync = 1;