The comment to flush_scheduled_work states that calling this function in the context of a work routine will lead to deadlock. I think it means following scenario: static void handler(struct work_struct *work) { flush_scheduled_work(); } static DECLARE_WORK(work, handler); schedule_work(&work); If this is true for system workqueue (system_wq) is it also applied to custom workqueue? I want to wait for completion of the workqueues in another workqueue. For example: static void handler(struct work_struct *work) { struct work_data * data = (struct work_data *)work; flush_scheduled_work(); kfree(data); } wq = create_workqueue("wq_test"); data = kmalloc(sizeof(struct work_data), GFP_KERNEL); INIT_WORK(&data->work, handler); queue_work(wq, &data->work);