diff --git a/drivers/mtd/ubi/build.c b/drivers/mtd/ubi/build.c
index 77513195f50e..8bae3731d039 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/ubi/build.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/ubi/build.c
@@ -420,41 +420,6 @@ static void dev_release(struct device *dev)
 	kfree(ubi);
 }
 
-/**
- * ubi_sysfs_init - initialize sysfs for an UBI device.
- * @ubi: UBI device description object
- * @ref: set to %1 on exit in case of failure if a reference to @ubi->dev was
- *       taken
- *
- * This function returns zero in case of success and a negative error code in
- * case of failure.
- */
-static int ubi_sysfs_init(struct ubi_device *ubi, int *ref)
-{
-	int err;
-
-	ubi->dev.release = dev_release;
-	ubi->dev.devt = ubi->cdev.dev;
-	ubi->dev.class = &ubi_class;
-	ubi->dev.groups = ubi_dev_groups;
-	dev_set_name(&ubi->dev, UBI_NAME_STR"%d", ubi->ubi_num);
-	err = device_register(&ubi->dev);
-	if (err)
-		return err;
-
-	*ref = 1;
-	return 0;
-}
-
-/**
- * ubi_sysfs_close - close sysfs for an UBI device.
- * @ubi: UBI device description object
- */
-static void ubi_sysfs_close(struct ubi_device *ubi)
-{
-	device_unregister(&ubi->dev);
-}
-
 /**
  * kill_volumes - destroy all user volumes.
  * @ubi: UBI device description object
@@ -471,27 +436,19 @@ static void kill_volumes(struct ubi_device *ubi)
 /**
  * uif_init - initialize user interfaces for an UBI device.
  * @ubi: UBI device description object
- * @ref: set to %1 on exit in case of failure if a reference to @ubi->dev was
- *       taken, otherwise set to %0
  *
  * This function initializes various user interfaces for an UBI device. If the
  * initialization fails at an early stage, this function frees all the
- * resources it allocated, returns an error, and @ref is set to %0. However,
- * if the initialization fails after the UBI device was registered in the
- * driver core subsystem, this function takes a reference to @ubi->dev, because
- * otherwise the release function ('dev_release()') would free whole @ubi
- * object. The @ref argument is set to %1 in this case. The caller has to put
- * this reference.
+ * resources it allocated, returns an error.
  *
  * This function returns zero in case of success and a negative error code in
  * case of failure.
  */
-static int uif_init(struct ubi_device *ubi, int *ref)
+static int uif_init(struct ubi_device *ubi)
 {
 	int i, err;
 	dev_t dev;
 
-	*ref = 0;
 	sprintf(ubi->ubi_name, UBI_NAME_STR "%d", ubi->ubi_num);
 
 	/*
@@ -508,20 +465,17 @@ static int uif_init(struct ubi_device *ubi, int *ref)
 		return err;
 	}
 
+	ubi->dev.devt = dev;
+
 	ubi_assert(MINOR(dev) == 0);
 	cdev_init(&ubi->cdev, &ubi_cdev_operations);
 	dbg_gen("%s major is %u", ubi->ubi_name, MAJOR(dev));
 	ubi->cdev.owner = THIS_MODULE;
 
-	err = cdev_add(&ubi->cdev, dev, 1);
-	if (err) {
-		ubi_err(ubi, "cannot add character device");
-		goto out_unreg;
-	}
-
-	err = ubi_sysfs_init(ubi, ref);
+	dev_set_name(&ubi->dev, UBI_NAME_STR "%d", ubi->ubi_num);
+	err = cdev_device_add(&ubi->cdev, &ubi->dev);
 	if (err)
-		goto out_sysfs;
+		goto out_unreg;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < ubi->vtbl_slots; i++)
 		if (ubi->volumes[i]) {
@@ -536,11 +490,7 @@ static int uif_init(struct ubi_device *ubi, int *ref)
 
 out_volumes:
 	kill_volumes(ubi);
-out_sysfs:
-	if (*ref)
-		get_device(&ubi->dev);
-	ubi_sysfs_close(ubi);
-	cdev_del(&ubi->cdev);
+	cdev_device_del(&ubi->cdev, &ubi->dev);
 out_unreg:
 	unregister_chrdev_region(ubi->cdev.dev, ubi->vtbl_slots + 1);
 	ubi_err(ubi, "cannot initialize UBI %s, error %d",
@@ -559,8 +509,7 @@ static int uif_init(struct ubi_device *ubi, int *ref)
 static void uif_close(struct ubi_device *ubi)
 {
 	kill_volumes(ubi);
-	ubi_sysfs_close(ubi);
-	cdev_del(&ubi->cdev);
+	cdev_device_del(&ubi->cdev, &ubi->dev);
 	unregister_chrdev_region(ubi->cdev.dev, ubi->vtbl_slots + 1);
 }
 
@@ -857,7 +806,7 @@ int ubi_attach_mtd_dev(struct mtd_info *mtd, int ubi_num,
 		       int vid_hdr_offset, int max_beb_per1024)
 {
 	struct ubi_device *ubi;
-	int i, err, ref = 0;
+	int i, err;
 
 	if (max_beb_per1024 < 0 || max_beb_per1024 > MAX_MTD_UBI_BEB_LIMIT)
 		return -EINVAL;
@@ -919,6 +868,11 @@ int ubi_attach_mtd_dev(struct mtd_info *mtd, int ubi_num,
 	if (!ubi)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	device_initialize(&ubi->dev);
+	ubi->dev.release = dev_release;
+	ubi->dev.class = &ubi_class;
+	ubi->dev.groups = ubi_dev_groups;
+
 	ubi->mtd = mtd;
 	ubi->ubi_num = ubi_num;
 	ubi->vid_hdr_offset = vid_hdr_offset;
@@ -995,7 +949,7 @@ int ubi_attach_mtd_dev(struct mtd_info *mtd, int ubi_num,
 	/* Make device "available" before it becomes accessible via sysfs */
 	ubi_devices[ubi_num] = ubi;
 
-	err = uif_init(ubi, &ref);
+	err = uif_init(ubi);
 	if (err)
 		goto out_detach;
 
@@ -1045,8 +999,6 @@ int ubi_attach_mtd_dev(struct mtd_info *mtd, int ubi_num,
 out_debugfs:
 	ubi_debugfs_exit_dev(ubi);
 out_uif:
-	get_device(&ubi->dev);
-	ubi_assert(ref);
 	uif_close(ubi);
 out_detach:
 	ubi_devices[ubi_num] = NULL;
@@ -1056,10 +1008,7 @@ int ubi_attach_mtd_dev(struct mtd_info *mtd, int ubi_num,
 out_free:
 	vfree(ubi->peb_buf);
 	vfree(ubi->fm_buf);
-	if (ref)
-		put_device(&ubi->dev);
-	else
-		kfree(ubi);
+	put_device(&ubi->dev);
 	return err;
 }
 
@@ -1120,12 +1069,6 @@ int ubi_detach_mtd_dev(int ubi_num, int anyway)
 	if (ubi->bgt_thread)
 		kthread_stop(ubi->bgt_thread);
 
-	/*
-	 * Get a reference to the device in order to prevent 'dev_release()'
-	 * from freeing the @ubi object.
-	 */
-	get_device(&ubi->dev);
-
 	ubi_debugfs_exit_dev(ubi);
 	uif_close(ubi);
 
diff --git a/drivers/mtd/ubi/vmt.c b/drivers/mtd/ubi/vmt.c
index 7ac78c13dd1c..85237cf661f9 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/ubi/vmt.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/ubi/vmt.c
@@ -155,11 +155,10 @@ static void vol_release(struct device *dev)
  */
 int ubi_create_volume(struct ubi_device *ubi, struct ubi_mkvol_req *req)
 {
-	int i, err, vol_id = req->vol_id, do_free = 1;
+	int i, err, vol_id = req->vol_id;
 	struct ubi_volume *vol;
 	struct ubi_vtbl_record vtbl_rec;
 	struct ubi_eba_table *eba_tbl = NULL;
-	dev_t dev;
 
 	if (ubi->ro_mode)
 		return -EROFS;
@@ -168,6 +167,12 @@ int ubi_create_volume(struct ubi_device *ubi, struct ubi_mkvol_req *req)
 	if (!vol)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	device_initialize(&vol->dev);
+	vol->dev.release = vol_release;
+	vol->dev.parent = &ubi->dev;
+	vol->dev.class = &ubi_class;
+	vol->dev.groups = volume_dev_groups;
+
 	spin_lock(&ubi->volumes_lock);
 	if (vol_id == UBI_VOL_NUM_AUTO) {
 		/* Find unused volume ID */
@@ -268,24 +273,13 @@ int ubi_create_volume(struct ubi_device *ubi, struct ubi_mkvol_req *req)
 	/* Register character device for the volume */
 	cdev_init(&vol->cdev, &ubi_vol_cdev_operations);
 	vol->cdev.owner = THIS_MODULE;
-	dev = MKDEV(MAJOR(ubi->cdev.dev), vol_id + 1);
-	err = cdev_add(&vol->cdev, dev, 1);
-	if (err) {
-		ubi_err(ubi, "cannot add character device");
-		goto out_mapping;
-	}
-
-	vol->dev.release = vol_release;
-	vol->dev.parent = &ubi->dev;
-	vol->dev.devt = dev;
-	vol->dev.class = &ubi_class;
-	vol->dev.groups = volume_dev_groups;
 
+	vol->dev.devt = MKDEV(MAJOR(ubi->cdev.dev), vol_id + 1);
 	dev_set_name(&vol->dev, "%s_%d", ubi->ubi_name, vol->vol_id);
-	err = device_register(&vol->dev);
+	err = cdev_device_add(&vol->cdev, &vol->dev);
 	if (err) {
-		ubi_err(ubi, "cannot register device");
-		goto out_cdev;
+		ubi_err(ubi, "cannot add device");
+		goto out_mapping;
 	}
 
 	/* Fill volume table record */
@@ -318,28 +312,17 @@ int ubi_create_volume(struct ubi_device *ubi, struct ubi_mkvol_req *req)
 	 * We have registered our device, we should not free the volume
 	 * description object in this function in case of an error - it is
 	 * freed by the release function.
-	 *
-	 * Get device reference to prevent the release function from being
-	 * called just after sysfs has been closed.
 	 */
-	do_free = 0;
-	get_device(&vol->dev);
-	device_unregister(&vol->dev);
-out_cdev:
-	cdev_del(&vol->cdev);
+	cdev_device_del(&vol->cdev, &vol->dev);
 out_mapping:
-	if (do_free)
-		ubi_eba_destroy_table(eba_tbl);
+	ubi_eba_destroy_table(eba_tbl);
 out_acc:
 	spin_lock(&ubi->volumes_lock);
 	ubi->rsvd_pebs -= vol->reserved_pebs;
 	ubi->avail_pebs += vol->reserved_pebs;
 out_unlock:
 	spin_unlock(&ubi->volumes_lock);
-	if (do_free)
-		kfree(vol);
-	else
-		put_device(&vol->dev);
+	put_device(&vol->dev);
 	ubi_err(ubi, "cannot create volume %d, error %d", vol_id, err);
 	return err;
 }
@@ -391,8 +374,8 @@ int ubi_remove_volume(struct ubi_volume_desc *desc, int no_vtbl)
 			goto out_err;
 	}
 
-	cdev_del(&vol->cdev);
-	device_unregister(&vol->dev);
+	cdev_device_del(&vol->cdev, &vol->dev);
+	put_device(&vol->dev);
 
 	spin_lock(&ubi->volumes_lock);
 	ubi->rsvd_pebs -= reserved_pebs;