diff --git a/fs/autofs4/autofs_i.h b/fs/autofs4/autofs_i.h
index bfa0c6e542f265b15a975f7f61947302e310a2e8..54f9237927288bd43d629156ddbd7a77532a9d48 100644
--- a/fs/autofs4/autofs_i.h
+++ b/fs/autofs4/autofs_i.h
@@ -338,5 +338,4 @@ static inline void autofs4_del_expiring(struct dentry *dentry)
 	return;
 }
 
-void autofs4_dentry_release(struct dentry *);
 extern void autofs4_kill_sb(struct super_block *);
diff --git a/fs/autofs4/inode.c b/fs/autofs4/inode.c
index 0df0c7c46fa27bfc34297c310cb0884f213c95c6..180fa2425e49310e9674a227c13297a1718f53fa 100644
--- a/fs/autofs4/inode.c
+++ b/fs/autofs4/inode.c
@@ -43,10 +43,6 @@ void autofs4_clean_ino(struct autofs_info *ino)
 
 void autofs4_free_ino(struct autofs_info *ino)
 {
-	if (ino->dentry) {
-		ino->dentry->d_fsdata = NULL;
-		ino->dentry = NULL;
-	}
 	kfree(ino);
 }
 
diff --git a/fs/autofs4/root.c b/fs/autofs4/root.c
index f7c97c084c1f8e9be51728b2a13bdb044f04a15d..014e7aba3b08dcb6fe4a9395d2ec513d91ad4205 100644
--- a/fs/autofs4/root.c
+++ b/fs/autofs4/root.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ static int autofs4_dir_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file);
 static struct dentry *autofs4_lookup(struct inode *,struct dentry *, struct nameidata *);
 static struct vfsmount *autofs4_d_automount(struct path *);
 static int autofs4_d_manage(struct dentry *, bool, bool);
+static void autofs4_dentry_release(struct dentry *);
 
 const struct file_operations autofs4_root_operations = {
 	.open		= dcache_dir_open,
@@ -138,25 +139,26 @@ static int autofs4_dir_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 	return dcache_dir_open(inode, file);
 }
 
-void autofs4_dentry_release(struct dentry *de)
+static void autofs4_dentry_release(struct dentry *de)
 {
-	struct autofs_info *inf;
+	struct autofs_info *ino = autofs4_dentry_ino(de);
+	struct autofs_sb_info *sbi = autofs4_sbi(de->d_sb);
 
 	DPRINTK("releasing %p", de);
 
-	inf = autofs4_dentry_ino(de);
-	if (inf) {
-		struct autofs_sb_info *sbi = autofs4_sbi(de->d_sb);
-		if (sbi) {
-			spin_lock(&sbi->lookup_lock);
-			if (!list_empty(&inf->active))
-				list_del(&inf->active);
-			if (!list_empty(&inf->expiring))
-				list_del(&inf->expiring);
-			spin_unlock(&sbi->lookup_lock);
-		}
-		autofs4_free_ino(inf);
+	if (!ino)
+		return;
+
+	if (sbi) {
+		spin_lock(&sbi->lookup_lock);
+		if (!list_empty(&ino->active))
+			list_del(&ino->active);
+		if (!list_empty(&ino->expiring))
+			list_del(&ino->expiring);
+		spin_unlock(&sbi->lookup_lock);
 	}
+
+	autofs4_free_ino(ino);
 }
 
 static struct dentry *autofs4_lookup_active(struct dentry *dentry)