diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/smpcommon.c b/arch/x86/kernel/smpcommon.c
index 99941b37eca0e81e2b44701934e507a7cc74f187..397e309839ddffdf3114dd3f7436ceb549eb3415 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/smpcommon.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/smpcommon.c
@@ -8,18 +8,21 @@
 DEFINE_PER_CPU(unsigned long, this_cpu_off);
 EXPORT_PER_CPU_SYMBOL(this_cpu_off);
 
-/* Initialize the CPU's GDT.  This is either the boot CPU doing itself
-   (still using the master per-cpu area), or a CPU doing it for a
-   secondary which will soon come up. */
+/*
+ * Initialize the CPU's GDT.  This is either the boot CPU doing itself
+ * (still using the master per-cpu area), or a CPU doing it for a
+ * secondary which will soon come up.
+ */
 __cpuinit void init_gdt(int cpu)
 {
-	struct desc_struct *gdt = get_cpu_gdt_table(cpu);
+	struct desc_struct gdt;
 
-	pack_descriptor(&gdt[GDT_ENTRY_PERCPU],
-			__per_cpu_offset[cpu], 0xFFFFF,
+	pack_descriptor(&gdt, __per_cpu_offset[cpu], 0xFFFFF,
 			0x2 | DESCTYPE_S, 0x8);
+	gdt.s = 1;
 
-	gdt[GDT_ENTRY_PERCPU].s = 1;
+	write_gdt_entry(get_cpu_gdt_table(cpu),
+			GDT_ENTRY_PERCPU, &gdt, DESCTYPE_S);
 
 	per_cpu(this_cpu_off, cpu) = __per_cpu_offset[cpu];
 	per_cpu(cpu_number, cpu) = cpu;