diff --git a/drivers/mtd/mtdchar.c b/drivers/mtd/mtdchar.c
index cad8fcc7b239e2e5e38d3f9e9de728f1db41a78e..16de17b5b829985fbb26b315bd71823e1fa5dacb 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/mtdchar.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/mtdchar.c
@@ -522,10 +522,6 @@ static int mtd_blkpg_ioctl(struct mtd_info *mtd,
 	if (!capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
 		return -EPERM;
 
-	/* Only master mtd device must be used to control partitions */
-	if (!mtd_is_master(mtd))
-		return -EINVAL;
-
 	if (copy_from_user(&a, arg, sizeof(struct blkpg_ioctl_arg)))
 		return -EFAULT;
 
@@ -535,6 +531,10 @@ static int mtd_blkpg_ioctl(struct mtd_info *mtd,
 	switch (a.op) {
 	case BLKPG_ADD_PARTITION:
 
+		/* Only master mtd device must be used to add partitions */
+		if (mtd_is_partition(mtd))
+			return -EINVAL;
+
 		return mtd_add_partition(mtd, p.devname, p.start, p.length);
 
 	case BLKPG_DEL_PARTITION:
diff --git a/drivers/mtd/mtdpart.c b/drivers/mtd/mtdpart.c
index 79e3689f1e16901f07e5ee770bcde218814d621d..1047ff0a4f55a2859e88df2b4181932a48aa1c42 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/mtdpart.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/mtdpart.c
@@ -720,19 +720,19 @@ int parse_mtd_partitions(struct mtd_info *master, const char **types,
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(parse_mtd_partitions);
 
-int mtd_is_master(struct mtd_info *mtd)
+int mtd_is_partition(struct mtd_info *mtd)
 {
 	struct mtd_part *part;
-	int nopart = 0;
+	int ispart = 0;
 
 	mutex_lock(&mtd_partitions_mutex);
 	list_for_each_entry(part, &mtd_partitions, list)
 		if (&part->mtd == mtd) {
-			nopart = 1;
+			ispart = 1;
 			break;
 		}
 	mutex_unlock(&mtd_partitions_mutex);
 
-	return nopart;
+	return ispart;
 }
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(mtd_is_master);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(mtd_is_partition);
diff --git a/include/linux/mtd/partitions.h b/include/linux/mtd/partitions.h
index 2b54316591d2b4231070a08dec7b6ad33a061ad3..4a0a8ba90a72cf9c3995eb6ef718fd23f542c852 100644
--- a/include/linux/mtd/partitions.h
+++ b/include/linux/mtd/partitions.h
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ static inline int mtd_has_cmdlinepart(void) { return 1; }
 static inline int mtd_has_cmdlinepart(void) { return 0; }
 #endif
 
-int mtd_is_master(struct mtd_info *mtd);
+int mtd_is_partition(struct mtd_info *mtd);
 int mtd_add_partition(struct mtd_info *master, char *name,
 		      long long offset, long long length);
 int mtd_del_partition(struct mtd_info *master, int partno);