diff --git a/mm/sparse.c b/mm/sparse.c
index c2afdb26039e..b8d5d58fe240 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.c
+++ b/mm/sparse.c
@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@ static int fill_subsection_map(unsigned long pfn, unsigned long nr_pages)
 	return rc;
 }
 #else
-struct page * __meminit populate_section_memmap(unsigned long pfn,
+static struct page * __meminit populate_section_memmap(unsigned long pfn,
 		unsigned long nr_pages, int nid, struct vmem_altmap *altmap,
 		struct dev_pagemap *pgmap)
 {