[release-4.19] Backport disruptive changes

[cybertron]

This is needed to fix an important use case in 4.16.

- What I did

- How to verify it

- Description for the changelog

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[cybertron]

We're going to hold off on backporting this until we're more certain we need it. It's not something we would normally backport, but there may be priority work that requires it. TBD.