diff --git a/arch/arm/Kconfig b/arch/arm/Kconfig
index 5bfd584929c8176988d057cfb54b7f8e88db8020..f0f90f06f84bde509483756f28735bc60c024622 100644
--- a/arch/arm/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/arm/Kconfig
@@ -1014,7 +1014,6 @@ config ARCH_MULTI_V7
 	bool "ARMv7 based platforms (Cortex-A, PJ4, Krait)"
 	default y
 	select ARCH_MULTI_V6_V7
-	select ARCH_VEXPRESS
 	select CPU_V7
 
 config ARCH_MULTI_V6_V7
diff --git a/arch/arm/kernel/devtree.c b/arch/arm/kernel/devtree.c
index 70f1bdeb241b1d4683d15025d3c7243cd69683d5..5af04f6daa33804ac8a3d03b7765e7bae4a86106 100644
--- a/arch/arm/kernel/devtree.c
+++ b/arch/arm/kernel/devtree.c
@@ -180,6 +180,13 @@ struct machine_desc * __init setup_machine_fdt(unsigned int dt_phys)
 	unsigned long dt_root;
 	const char *model;
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_ARCH_MULTIPLATFORM
+	DT_MACHINE_START(GENERIC_DT, "Generic DT based system")
+	MACHINE_END
+
+	mdesc_best = (struct machine_desc *)&__mach_desc_GENERIC_DT;
+#endif
+
 	if (!dt_phys)
 		return NULL;
 
diff --git a/arch/arm/kernel/setup.c b/arch/arm/kernel/setup.c
index 3f6cbb2e3edae392f2b73520b89b6ee3b19e8437..08a627b61b7dc73b68cd7eeaf1ea4488459afef3 100644
--- a/arch/arm/kernel/setup.c
+++ b/arch/arm/kernel/setup.c
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #include <linux/bootmem.h>
 #include <linux/seq_file.h>
 #include <linux/screen_info.h>
+#include <linux/of_platform.h>
 #include <linux/init.h>
 #include <linux/kexec.h>
 #include <linux/of_fdt.h>
@@ -640,9 +641,19 @@ struct screen_info screen_info = {
 
 static int __init customize_machine(void)
 {
-	/* customizes platform devices, or adds new ones */
+	/*
+	 * customizes platform devices, or adds new ones
+	 * On DT based machines, we fall back to populating the
+	 * machine from the device tree, if no callback is provided,
+	 * otherwise we would always need an init_machine callback.
+	 */
 	if (machine_desc->init_machine)
 		machine_desc->init_machine();
+#ifdef CONFIG_OF
+	else
+		of_platform_populate(NULL, of_default_bus_match_table,
+					NULL, NULL);
+#endif
 	return 0;
 }
 arch_initcall(customize_machine);