diff --git a/Documentation/gpio/driver.txt b/Documentation/gpio/driver.txt
index 224dbbcd18045c12652e9ca6ba80353024b855da..18790c237977b5a585953ffef3e45a0eab64e468 100644
--- a/Documentation/gpio/driver.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gpio/driver.txt
@@ -167,3 +167,24 @@ is released:
 When implementing an irqchip inside a GPIO driver, these two functions should
 typically be called in the .startup() and .shutdown() callbacks from the
 irqchip.
+
+
+Requesting self-owned GPIO pins
+-------------------------------
+
+Sometimes it is useful to allow a GPIO chip driver to request its own GPIO
+descriptors through the gpiolib API. Using gpio_request() for this purpose
+does not help since it pins the module to the kernel forever (it calls
+try_module_get()). A GPIO driver can use the following functions instead
+to request and free descriptors without being pinned to the kernel forever.
+
+	int gpiochip_request_own_desc(struct gpio_desc *desc, const char *label)
+
+	void gpiochip_free_own_desc(struct gpio_desc *desc)
+
+Descriptors requested with gpiochip_request_own_desc() must be released with
+gpiochip_free_own_desc().
+
+These functions must be used with care since they do not affect module use
+count. Do not use the functions to request gpio descriptors not owned by the
+calling driver.
diff --git a/drivers/gpio/gpiolib.c b/drivers/gpio/gpiolib.c
index 412d64e93cfb78124627b416bcd0db01d92889f7..768f0831db183e635ab43d4e8974fba890198db2 100644
--- a/drivers/gpio/gpiolib.c
+++ b/drivers/gpio/gpiolib.c
@@ -897,6 +897,7 @@ int gpiochip_request_own_desc(struct gpio_desc *desc, const char *label)
 
 	return __gpiod_request(desc, label);
 }
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(gpiochip_request_own_desc);
 
 /**
  * gpiochip_free_own_desc - Free GPIO requested by the chip driver
@@ -910,6 +911,7 @@ void gpiochip_free_own_desc(struct gpio_desc *desc)
 	if (desc)
 		__gpiod_free(desc);
 }
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(gpiochip_free_own_desc);
 
 /* Drivers MUST set GPIO direction before making get/set calls.  In
  * some cases this is done in early boot, before IRQs are enabled.
diff --git a/drivers/gpio/gpiolib.h b/drivers/gpio/gpiolib.h
index acbb9335f08cf0547d54443b05c1598e4b73838f..7fcb645ded4cb3fb4d1039fc1b10b37233138e40 100644
--- a/drivers/gpio/gpiolib.h
+++ b/drivers/gpio/gpiolib.h
@@ -45,9 +45,6 @@ acpi_get_gpiod_by_index(struct device *dev, int index,
 }
 #endif
 
-int gpiochip_request_own_desc(struct gpio_desc *desc, const char *label);
-void gpiochip_free_own_desc(struct gpio_desc *desc);
-
 struct gpio_desc *of_get_named_gpiod_flags(struct device_node *np,
 		   const char *list_name, int index, enum of_gpio_flags *flags);
 
diff --git a/include/linux/gpio/driver.h b/include/linux/gpio/driver.h
index c66c91682d9efe706e7216b3a36c3aad9747b5be..4c463fb0155e2563bffc186428cb2a25589d6697 100644
--- a/include/linux/gpio/driver.h
+++ b/include/linux/gpio/driver.h
@@ -220,6 +220,9 @@ int gpiochip_irqchip_add(struct gpio_chip *gpiochip,
 
 #endif /* CONFIG_GPIO_IRQCHIP */
 
+int gpiochip_request_own_desc(struct gpio_desc *desc, const char *label);
+void gpiochip_free_own_desc(struct gpio_desc *desc);
+
 #else /* CONFIG_GPIOLIB */
 
 static inline struct gpio_chip *gpiod_to_chip(const struct gpio_desc *desc)