diff --git a/drivers/thermal/Kconfig b/drivers/thermal/Kconfig
index d96da075c9f62bb0a44d35034316184e4180e798..8636fae1f7ecfa88909b5b4aa7eb39b71722933f 100644
--- a/drivers/thermal/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/thermal/Kconfig
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ config USER_SPACE
 	  Enable this to let the user space manage the platform thermals.
 
 config CPU_THERMAL
-	bool "generic cpu cooling support"
+	tristate "generic cpu cooling support"
 	depends on CPU_FREQ
 	select CPU_FREQ_TABLE
 	help
diff --git a/include/linux/cpu_cooling.h b/include/linux/cpu_cooling.h
index b30cc79c7a8294f0ce687a5508e104905c37c593..40b4ef54cc7d50661553545724951e4e47b4c4e8 100644
--- a/include/linux/cpu_cooling.h
+++ b/include/linux/cpu_cooling.h
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 #define CPUFREQ_COOLING_START		0
 #define CPUFREQ_COOLING_STOP		1
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_CPU_THERMAL
+#if defined(CONFIG_CPU_THERMAL) || defined(CONFIG_CPU_THERMAL_MODULE)
 /**
  * cpufreq_cooling_register - function to create cpufreq cooling device.
  * @clip_cpus: cpumask of cpus where the frequency constraints will happen