diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/confdata.c b/scripts/kconfig/confdata.c
index 39dfe463de15..9ef135735cfa 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/confdata.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/confdata.c
@@ -227,14 +227,6 @@ static int conf_set_sym_val(struct symbol *sym, int def, int def_flags, char *p)
 			conf_warning("symbol value '%s' invalid for %s",
 				     p, sym->name);
 		return 1;
-	case S_OTHER:
-		if (*p != '"') {
-			for (p2 = p; *p2 && !isspace(*p2); p2++)
-				;
-			sym->type = S_STRING;
-			goto done;
-		}
-		/* fall through */
 	case S_STRING:
 		if (*p++ != '"')
 			break;
@@ -253,7 +245,6 @@ static int conf_set_sym_val(struct symbol *sym, int def, int def_flags, char *p)
 		/* fall through */
 	case S_INT:
 	case S_HEX:
-	done:
 		if (sym_string_valid(sym, p)) {
 			sym->def[def].val = xstrdup(p);
 			sym->flags |= def_flags;
@@ -434,17 +425,22 @@ int conf_read_simple(const char *name, int def)
 				if (*p2 == '\r')
 					*p2 = 0;
 			}
-			if (def == S_DEF_USER) {
-				sym = sym_find(line + strlen(CONFIG_));
-				if (!sym) {
+
+			sym = sym_find(line + strlen(CONFIG_));
+			if (!sym) {
+				if (def == S_DEF_AUTO)
+					/*
+					 * Reading from include/config/auto.conf
+					 * If CONFIG_FOO previously existed in
+					 * auto.conf but it is missing now,
+					 * include/config/foo.h must be touched.
+					 */
+					conf_touch_dep(line + strlen(CONFIG_));
+				else
 					sym_add_change_count(1);
-					continue;
-				}
-			} else {
-				sym = sym_lookup(line + strlen(CONFIG_), 0);
-				if (sym->type == S_UNKNOWN)
-					sym->type = S_OTHER;
+				continue;
 			}
+
 			if (sym->flags & def_flags) {
 				conf_warning("override: reassigning to symbol %s", sym->name);
 			}
@@ -710,7 +706,6 @@ static void conf_write_symbol(FILE *fp, struct symbol *sym,
 	const char *str;
 
 	switch (sym->type) {
-	case S_OTHER:
 	case S_UNKNOWN:
 		break;
 	case S_STRING:
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/expr.h b/scripts/kconfig/expr.h
index 7c329e179007..2b7e222b0784 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/expr.h
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/expr.h
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ struct symbol_value {
 };
 
 enum symbol_type {
-	S_UNKNOWN, S_BOOLEAN, S_TRISTATE, S_INT, S_HEX, S_STRING, S_OTHER
+	S_UNKNOWN, S_BOOLEAN, S_TRISTATE, S_INT, S_HEX, S_STRING
 };
 
 /* enum values are used as index to symbol.def[] */
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ struct symbol {
 	struct expr_value implied;
 };
 
-#define for_all_symbols(i, sym) for (i = 0; i < SYMBOL_HASHSIZE; i++) for (sym = symbol_hash[i]; sym; sym = sym->next) if (sym->type != S_OTHER)
+#define for_all_symbols(i, sym) for (i = 0; i < SYMBOL_HASHSIZE; i++) for (sym = symbol_hash[i]; sym; sym = sym->next)
 
 #define SYMBOL_CONST      0x0001  /* symbol is const */
 #define SYMBOL_CHECK      0x0008  /* used during dependency checking */
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c b/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c
index 703b9b899ee9..2e6bf362d164 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c
@@ -61,8 +61,6 @@ const char *sym_type_name(enum symbol_type type)
 		return "string";
 	case S_UNKNOWN:
 		return "unknown";
-	case S_OTHER:
-		break;
 	}
 	return "???";
 }
@@ -757,7 +755,6 @@ const char *sym_get_string_default(struct symbol *sym)
 		return str;
 	case S_STRING:
 		return str;
-	case S_OTHER:
 	case S_UNKNOWN:
 		break;
 	}