diff --git a/mm/memory_hotplug.c b/mm/memory_hotplug.c
index 821dee596377..380aef45c2cf 100644
--- a/mm/memory_hotplug.c
+++ b/mm/memory_hotplug.c
@@ -447,7 +447,8 @@ int online_pages(unsigned long pfn, unsigned long nr_pages)
 }
 #endif /* CONFIG_MEMORY_HOTPLUG_SPARSE */
 
-static pg_data_t *hotadd_new_pgdat(int nid, u64 start)
+/* we are OK calling __meminit stuff here - we have CONFIG_MEMORY_HOTPLUG */
+static pg_data_t __ref *hotadd_new_pgdat(int nid, u64 start)
 {
 	struct pglist_data *pgdat;
 	unsigned long zones_size[MAX_NR_ZONES] = {0};