diff --git a/sys/fs/tmpfs/tmpfs_vnops.c b/sys/fs/tmpfs/tmpfs_vnops.c
index 8436dc3bc48c..c492f003c97d 100644
--- a/sys/fs/tmpfs/tmpfs_vnops.c
+++ b/sys/fs/tmpfs/tmpfs_vnops.c
@@ -1078,7 +1078,9 @@ tmpfs_rename(struct vop_rename_args *v)
 		}
 
 		if (fnode->tn_type == VDIR && tnode->tn_type == VDIR) {
-			if (tnode->tn_size > tnode->tn_dir.tn_wht_size) {
+			if ((tnode->tn_size != 0 &&
+			    (tcnp->cn_flags & DROPWHITEOUT) == 0) ||
+			    tnode->tn_size > tnode->tn_dir.tn_wht_size) {
 				error = ENOTEMPTY;
 				goto out_locked;
 			}
@@ -1312,6 +1314,7 @@ tmpfs_rmdir(struct vop_rmdir_args *v)
 {
 	struct vnode *dvp = v->a_dvp;
 	struct vnode *vp = v->a_vp;
+	struct componentname *cnp = v->a_cnp;
 
 	int error;
 	struct tmpfs_dirent *de;
@@ -1327,7 +1330,9 @@ tmpfs_rmdir(struct vop_rmdir_args *v)
 	 * Directories with more than two non-whiteout entries ('.' and '..')
 	 * cannot be removed.
 	 */
-	if (node->tn_size > node->tn_dir.tn_wht_size) {
+	if ((node->tn_size != 0 &&
+	    (cnp->cn_flags & DROPWHITEOUT) == 0) ||
+	    node->tn_size > node->tn_dir.tn_wht_size) {
 		error = ENOTEMPTY;
 		goto out;
 	}
@@ -1344,10 +1349,10 @@ tmpfs_rmdir(struct vop_rmdir_args *v)
 
 	/* Get the directory entry associated with node (vp).  This was
 	 * filled by tmpfs_lookup while looking up the entry. */
-	de = tmpfs_dir_lookup(dnode, node, v->a_cnp);
+	de = tmpfs_dir_lookup(dnode, node, cnp);
 	MPASS(TMPFS_DIRENT_MATCHES(de,
-	    v->a_cnp->cn_nameptr,
-	    v->a_cnp->cn_namelen));
+	    cnp->cn_nameptr,
+	    cnp->cn_namelen));
 
 	/* Check flags to see if we are allowed to remove the directory. */
 	if ((dnode->tn_flags & APPEND) != 0 ||
@@ -1362,8 +1367,8 @@ tmpfs_rmdir(struct vop_rmdir_args *v)
 	if (node->tn_size > 0)
 		tmpfs_dir_clear(vp);
 
-	if (v->a_cnp->cn_flags & DOWHITEOUT)
-		tmpfs_dir_whiteout_add(dvp, v->a_cnp);
+	if (cnp->cn_flags & DOWHITEOUT)
+		tmpfs_dir_whiteout_add(dvp, cnp);
 
 	/* No vnode should be allocated for this entry from this point */
 	TMPFS_NODE_LOCK(node);
diff --git a/sys/fs/unionfs/union_vnops.c b/sys/fs/unionfs/union_vnops.c
index 3f39352ea5c0..60baa4aeb6b9 100644
--- a/sys/fs/unionfs/union_vnops.c
+++ b/sys/fs/unionfs/union_vnops.c
@@ -1732,7 +1732,7 @@ unionfs_rmdir(struct vop_rmdir_args *ap)
 		}
 		ump = MOUNTTOUNIONFSMOUNT(ap->a_vp->v_mount);
 		if (ump->um_whitemode == UNIONFS_WHITE_ALWAYS || lvp != NULLVP)
-			cnp->cn_flags |= DOWHITEOUT;
+			cnp->cn_flags |= (DOWHITEOUT | DROPWHITEOUT);
 		int udvp_lkflags, uvp_lkflags;
 		unionfs_forward_vop_start_pair(udvp, &udvp_lkflags,
 		    uvp, &uvp_lkflags);
diff --git a/sys/sys/namei.h b/sys/sys/namei.h
index 2ea4f502e8fd..5745e13ebab5 100644
--- a/sys/sys/namei.h
+++ b/sys/sys/namei.h
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ int	cache_fplookup(struct nameidata *ndp, enum cache_fpl_status *status,
  */
 #define	RDONLY		0x00000200 /* lookup with read-only semantics */
 #define	ISRESTARTED	0x00000400 /* restarted namei */
-/* UNUSED		0x00000800 */
+#define	DROPWHITEOUT	0x00000800 /* discard whiteouts on removing otherwise-empty dir */
 #define	ISWHITEOUT	0x00001000 /* found whiteout */
 #define	DOWHITEOUT	0x00002000 /* do whiteouts */
 #define	WILLBEDIR	0x00004000 /* new files will be dirs; allow trailing / */
diff --git a/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_extern.h b/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_extern.h
index b1d55ed1f180..ccd9046a5fa8 100644
--- a/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_extern.h
+++ b/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_extern.h
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ int	 ufs_bmap_seekdata(struct vnode *, off_t *);
 int	 ufs_checkpath(ino_t, ino_t, struct inode *, struct ucred *, ino_t *);
 void	 ufs_dirbad(struct inode *, doff_t, char *);
 int	 ufs_dirbadentry(struct vnode *, struct direct *, int);
-int	 ufs_dirempty(struct inode *, ino_t, struct ucred *);
+int	 ufs_dirempty(struct inode *, ino_t, struct ucred *, int);
 int	 ufs_extread(struct vop_read_args *);
 int	 ufs_extwrite(struct vop_write_args *);
 void	 ufs_makedirentry(struct inode *, struct componentname *,
diff --git a/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_lookup.c b/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_lookup.c
index 2d6c79970c96..eaf37c58756b 100644
--- a/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_lookup.c
+++ b/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_lookup.c
@@ -1298,7 +1298,8 @@ ufs_dirrewrite(struct inode *dp, struct inode *oip, ino_t newinum, int newtype,
  * NB: does not handle corrupted directories.
  */
 int
-ufs_dirempty(struct inode *ip, ino_t parentino, struct ucred *cred)
+ufs_dirempty(struct inode *ip, ino_t parentino, struct ucred *cred,
+    int skipwhiteout)
 {
 	doff_t off;
 	struct dirtemplate dbuf;
@@ -1321,7 +1322,8 @@ ufs_dirempty(struct inode *ip, ino_t parentino, struct ucred *cred)
 		if (dp->d_reclen == 0)
 			return (0);
 		/* skip empty entries */
-		if (dp->d_ino == 0 || dp->d_ino == UFS_WINO)
+		if (dp->d_ino == 0 ||
+		    (skipwhiteout != 0 && dp->d_ino == UFS_WINO))
 			continue;
 		/* accept only "." and ".." */
 #		if (BYTE_ORDER == LITTLE_ENDIAN)
diff --git a/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_vnops.c b/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_vnops.c
index c62583afaab6..a09b893a4d8d 100644
--- a/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_vnops.c
+++ b/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_vnops.c
@@ -1625,7 +1625,8 @@ ufs_rename(
 		 */
 		if ((tip->i_mode & IFMT) == IFDIR) {
 			if ((tip->i_effnlink > 2) ||
-			    !ufs_dirempty(tip, tdp->i_number, tcnp->cn_cred)) {
+			    !ufs_dirempty(tip, tdp->i_number, tcnp->cn_cred,
+			    (tcnp->cn_flags & DROPWHITEOUT) != 0)) {
 				error = ENOTEMPTY;
 				goto bad;
 			}
@@ -2281,7 +2282,8 @@ ufs_rmdir(
 		error = EINVAL;
 		goto out;
 	}
-	if (!ufs_dirempty(ip, dp->i_number, cnp->cn_cred)) {
+	if (!ufs_dirempty(ip, dp->i_number, cnp->cn_cred,
+	    (cnp->cn_flags & DROPWHITEOUT) != 0)) {
 		error = ENOTEMPTY;
 		goto out;
 	}