diff --git a/init/do_mounts.c b/init/do_mounts.c
index f769fac4f4c0..3715feb8446d 100644
--- a/init/do_mounts.c
+++ b/init/do_mounts.c
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 int __initdata rd_doload;	/* 1 = load RAM disk, 0 = don't load */
 
 int root_mountflags = MS_RDONLY | MS_SILENT;
-char * __initdata root_device_name;
+static char * __initdata root_device_name;
 static char __initdata saved_root_name[64];
 static int __initdata root_wait;
 
diff --git a/init/do_mounts.h b/init/do_mounts.h
index 735705d137ff..9aa968d54329 100644
--- a/init/do_mounts.h
+++ b/init/do_mounts.h
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ void  change_floppy(char *fmt, ...);
 void  mount_block_root(char *name, int flags);
 void  mount_root(void);
 extern int root_mountflags;
-extern char *root_device_name;
 
 static inline int create_dev(char *name, dev_t dev)
 {