diff --git a/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h b/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
index 729f6b0a60e9d1655cfa5005236c5bf11fb83d5c..9cd44b162ba1809af8d28093da19b353f7be7cd0 100644
--- a/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
+++ b/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
@@ -359,6 +359,8 @@
 	}
 
 #define INITCALLS							\
+	*(.initcallearly.init)						\
+	__early_initcall_end = .;					\
   	*(.initcall0.init)						\
   	*(.initcall0s.init)						\
   	*(.initcall1.init)						\
diff --git a/include/linux/init.h b/include/linux/init.h
index 42ae95411a93510433c25c31b03b0b28f095869c..11b84e1060532ecf62f73e3151b9f6eaed043c8b 100644
--- a/include/linux/init.h
+++ b/include/linux/init.h
@@ -169,6 +169,13 @@ extern void (*late_time_init)(void);
 	static initcall_t __initcall_##fn##id __used \
 	__attribute__((__section__(".initcall" level ".init"))) = fn
 
+/*
+ * Early initcalls run before initializing SMP.
+ *
+ * Only for built-in code, not modules.
+ */
+#define early_initcall(fn)		__define_initcall("early",fn,early)
+
 /*
  * A "pure" initcall has no dependencies on anything else, and purely
  * initializes variables that couldn't be statically initialized.
diff --git a/init/main.c b/init/main.c
index 0604cbcaf1e4e2030f487e663966cba66517101b..b6fec08dbbef65236edd042b7834be771de6faf0 100644
--- a/init/main.c
+++ b/init/main.c
@@ -743,13 +743,13 @@ static void __init do_one_initcall(initcall_t fn)
 }
 
 
-extern initcall_t __initcall_start[], __initcall_end[];
+extern initcall_t __initcall_start[], __initcall_end[], __early_initcall_end[];
 
 static void __init do_initcalls(void)
 {
 	initcall_t *call;
 
-	for (call = __initcall_start; call < __initcall_end; call++)
+	for (call = __early_initcall_end; call < __initcall_end; call++)
 		do_one_initcall(*call);
 
 	/* Make sure there is no pending stuff from the initcall sequence */
@@ -783,6 +783,14 @@ static int __init nosoftlockup_setup(char *str)
 }
 __setup("nosoftlockup", nosoftlockup_setup);
 
+static void __init __do_pre_smp_initcalls(void)
+{
+	initcall_t *call;
+
+	for (call = __initcall_start; call < __early_initcall_end; call++)
+		do_one_initcall(*call);
+}
+
 static void __init do_pre_smp_initcalls(void)
 {
 	extern int spawn_ksoftirqd(void);
@@ -865,6 +873,7 @@ static int __init kernel_init(void * unused)
 
 	smp_prepare_cpus(setup_max_cpus);
 
+	__do_pre_smp_initcalls();
 	do_pre_smp_initcalls();
 
 	smp_init();