diff --git a/include/linux/kobject.h b/include/linux/kobject.h
index 939b11268c86..de6dcbcc6ef7 100644
--- a/include/linux/kobject.h
+++ b/include/linux/kobject.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <linux/kernel.h>
 #include <linux/wait.h>
 #include <linux/atomic.h>
+#include <linux/workqueue.h>
 
 #define UEVENT_HELPER_PATH_LEN		256
 #define UEVENT_NUM_ENVP			32	/* number of env pointers */
@@ -65,6 +66,9 @@ struct kobject {
 	struct kobj_type	*ktype;
 	struct sysfs_dirent	*sd;
 	struct kref		kref;
+#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE
+	struct delayed_work	release;
+#endif
 	unsigned int state_initialized:1;
 	unsigned int state_in_sysfs:1;
 	unsigned int state_add_uevent_sent:1;
diff --git a/lib/Kconfig.debug b/lib/Kconfig.debug
index 1501aa553221..444e1c12fea9 100644
--- a/lib/Kconfig.debug
+++ b/lib/Kconfig.debug
@@ -981,6 +981,25 @@ config DEBUG_KOBJECT
 	  If you say Y here, some extra kobject debugging messages will be sent
 	  to the syslog. 
 
+config DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE
+	bool "kobject release debugging"
+	depends on DEBUG_KERNEL
+	help
+	  kobjects are reference counted objects.  This means that their
+	  last reference count put is not predictable, and the kobject can
+	  live on past the point at which a driver decides to drop it's
+	  initial reference to the kobject gained on allocation.  An
+	  example of this would be a struct device which has just been
+	  unregistered.
+
+	  However, some buggy drivers assume that after such an operation,
+	  the memory backing the kobject can be immediately freed.  This
+	  goes completely against the principles of a refcounted object.
+
+	  If you say Y here, the kernel will delay the release of kobjects
+	  on the last reference count to improve the visibility of this
+	  kind of kobject release bug.
+
 config HAVE_DEBUG_BUGVERBOSE
 	bool
 
diff --git a/lib/kobject.c b/lib/kobject.c
index 4a1f33d43548..1d46c151a4ae 100644
--- a/lib/kobject.c
+++ b/lib/kobject.c
@@ -545,8 +545,8 @@ static void kobject_cleanup(struct kobject *kobj)
 	struct kobj_type *t = get_ktype(kobj);
 	const char *name = kobj->name;
 
-	pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): %s\n",
-		 kobject_name(kobj), kobj, __func__);
+	pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): %s, parent %p\n",
+		 kobject_name(kobj), kobj, __func__, kobj->parent);
 
 	if (t && !t->release)
 		pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): does not have a release() "
@@ -580,9 +580,25 @@ static void kobject_cleanup(struct kobject *kobj)
 	}
 }
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE
+static void kobject_delayed_cleanup(struct work_struct *work)
+{
+	kobject_cleanup(container_of(to_delayed_work(work),
+				     struct kobject, release));
+}
+#endif
+
 static void kobject_release(struct kref *kref)
 {
-	kobject_cleanup(container_of(kref, struct kobject, kref));
+	struct kobject *kobj = container_of(kref, struct kobject, kref);
+#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE
+	pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): %s, parent %p (delayed)\n",
+		 kobject_name(kobj), kobj, __func__, kobj->parent);
+	INIT_DELAYED_WORK(&kobj->release, kobject_delayed_cleanup);
+	schedule_delayed_work(&kobj->release, HZ);
+#else
+	kobject_cleanup(kobj);
+#endif
 }
 
 /**