diff --git a/scripts/depmod.sh b/scripts/depmod.sh
index 3643b4f896ed..fca689ba4f21 100755
--- a/scripts/depmod.sh
+++ b/scripts/depmod.sh
@@ -23,33 +23,8 @@ if [ -z $(command -v $DEPMOD) ]; then
 	exit 0
 fi
 
-# older versions of depmod require the version string to start with three
-# numbers, so we cheat with a symlink here
-depmod_hack_needed=true
-tmp_dir=$(mktemp -d ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/depmod.XXXXXX)
-mkdir -p "$tmp_dir/lib/modules/$KERNELRELEASE"
-if "$DEPMOD" -b "$tmp_dir" $KERNELRELEASE 2>/dev/null; then
-	if test -e "$tmp_dir/lib/modules/$KERNELRELEASE/modules.dep" -o \
-		-e "$tmp_dir/lib/modules/$KERNELRELEASE/modules.dep.bin"; then
-		depmod_hack_needed=false
-	fi
-fi
-rm -rf "$tmp_dir"
-if $depmod_hack_needed; then
-	symlink="$INSTALL_MOD_PATH/lib/modules/99.98.$KERNELRELEASE"
-	ln -s "$KERNELRELEASE" "$symlink"
-	KERNELRELEASE=99.98.$KERNELRELEASE
-fi
-
 set -- -ae -F System.map
 if test -n "$INSTALL_MOD_PATH"; then
 	set -- "$@" -b "$INSTALL_MOD_PATH"
 fi
-"$DEPMOD" "$@" "$KERNELRELEASE"
-ret=$?
-
-if $depmod_hack_needed; then
-	rm -f "$symlink"
-fi
-
-exit $ret
+exec "$DEPMOD" "$@" "$KERNELRELEASE"