diff --git a/arch/xtensa/kernel/head.S b/arch/xtensa/kernel/head.S
index 0817f9db836e..d9ddc1ba761c 100644
--- a/arch/xtensa/kernel/head.S
+++ b/arch/xtensa/kernel/head.S
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #include <asm/page.h>
 #include <asm/cacheasm.h>
 
+#include <linux/init.h>
 #include <linux/linkage.h>
 
 /*
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@
 	 * instruction.
 	 */
 
-	.section .head.text, "ax"
+	__HEAD
 	.globl _start
 _start:	_j	2f
 	.align	4
diff --git a/arch/xtensa/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S b/arch/xtensa/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
index c1be9a4a740c..5accf51053da 100644
--- a/arch/xtensa/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
+++ b/arch/xtensa/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ SECTIONS
 
   .text :
   {
-    /* The .head.text section must be the first section! */
-    *(.head.text)
+    /* The HEAD_TEXT section must be the first section! */
+    HEAD_TEXT
     *(.literal .text)
     VMLINUX_SYMBOL(__sched_text_start) = .;
     *(.sched.literal .sched.text)