diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
index 811b7e744378cf7fcd9bfba6c71f305522239b68..b585bff1a022528c23a4193b2217ce4fde44b92d 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
@@ -382,6 +382,7 @@ static inline unsigned long get_clean_sp(struct pt_regs *regs, int is_32)
 }
 #endif
 
+extern unsigned long cpuidle_disable;
 enum idle_boot_override {IDLE_NO_OVERRIDE = 0, IDLE_POWERSAVE_OFF};
 
 #endif /* __KERNEL__ */
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/processor_idle.c b/arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/processor_idle.c
index f7e3e877cb69af80906af07d90beb0717b00f46b..085fd3f45ad2fd3e6beba86099d3d36cc2c88feb 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/processor_idle.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/processor_idle.c
@@ -269,6 +269,9 @@ static int pseries_idle_probe(void)
 	if (!firmware_has_feature(FW_FEATURE_SPLPAR))
 		return -ENODEV;
 
+	if (cpuidle_disable != IDLE_NO_OVERRIDE)
+		return -ENODEV;
+
 	if (max_idle_state == 0) {
 		printk(KERN_DEBUG "pseries processor idle disabled.\n");
 		return -EPERM;