diff --git a/drivers/staging/android/sw_sync.c b/drivers/staging/android/sw_sync.c
index 1f956b99b880b0eee17469fc7fe0c7d9236f85b1..cf4de27266a495ae5a7e5ce924aa77e05ca7a051 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/android/sw_sync.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/android/sw_sync.c
@@ -97,21 +97,6 @@ static void sync_timeline_put(struct sync_timeline *obj)
 	kref_put(&obj->kref, sync_timeline_free);
 }
 
-/**
- * sync_timeline_destroy() - destroys a sync object
- * @obj:	sync_timeline to destroy
- *
- * A sync implementation should call this when the @obj is going away
- * (i.e. module unload.)  @obj won't actually be freed until all its children
- * fences are freed.
- */
-static void sync_timeline_destroy(struct sync_timeline *obj)
-{
-	smp_wmb();
-
-	sync_timeline_put(obj);
-}
-
 /**
  * sync_timeline_signal() - signal a status change on a sync_timeline
  * @obj:	sync_timeline to signal
@@ -275,7 +260,9 @@ static int sw_sync_debugfs_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 {
 	struct sync_timeline *obj = file->private_data;
 
-	sync_timeline_destroy(obj);
+	smp_wmb();
+
+	sync_timeline_put(obj);
 	return 0;
 }