diff --git a/fs/seq_file.c b/fs/seq_file.c
index e85664b7c7d963522fd7efc938a3d96a27edc651..19f532e7d35e9a501256ab64f76a645bf7d6b2e6 100644
--- a/fs/seq_file.c
+++ b/fs/seq_file.c
@@ -72,9 +72,10 @@ int seq_open(struct file *file, const struct seq_operations *op)
 
 	mutex_init(&p->lock);
 	p->op = op;
-#ifdef CONFIG_USER_NS
-	p->user_ns = file->f_cred->user_ns;
-#endif
+
+	// No refcounting: the lifetime of 'p' is constrained
+	// to the lifetime of the file.
+	p->file = file;
 
 	/*
 	 * Wrappers around seq_open(e.g. swaps_open) need to be
diff --git a/include/linux/seq_file.h b/include/linux/seq_file.h
index dde00defbaa52bd2ae380c76e7df305389aa5b8f..f3d45dd42695e1f813d67103a118dc03d27cdcbc 100644
--- a/include/linux/seq_file.h
+++ b/include/linux/seq_file.h
@@ -7,13 +7,10 @@
 #include <linux/mutex.h>
 #include <linux/cpumask.h>
 #include <linux/nodemask.h>
+#include <linux/fs.h>
+#include <linux/cred.h>
 
 struct seq_operations;
-struct file;
-struct path;
-struct inode;
-struct dentry;
-struct user_namespace;
 
 struct seq_file {
 	char *buf;
@@ -27,9 +24,7 @@ struct seq_file {
 	struct mutex lock;
 	const struct seq_operations *op;
 	int poll_event;
-#ifdef CONFIG_USER_NS
-	struct user_namespace *user_ns;
-#endif
+	const struct file *file;
 	void *private;
 };
 
@@ -147,7 +142,7 @@ int seq_release_private(struct inode *, struct file *);
 static inline struct user_namespace *seq_user_ns(struct seq_file *seq)
 {
 #ifdef CONFIG_USER_NS
-	return seq->user_ns;
+	return seq->file->f_cred->user_ns;
 #else
 	extern struct user_namespace init_user_ns;
 	return &init_user_ns;