diff --git a/drivers/oprofile/oprof.c b/drivers/oprofile/oprof.c
index b4a685719dba..f9bda64fcd1b 100644
--- a/drivers/oprofile/oprof.c
+++ b/drivers/oprofile/oprof.c
@@ -225,26 +225,17 @@ void oprofile_shutdown(void)
 	mutex_unlock(&start_mutex);
 }
 
-int oprofile_set_backtrace(unsigned long val)
+int oprofile_set_ulong(unsigned long *addr, unsigned long val)
 {
-	int err = 0;
+	int err = -EBUSY;
 
 	mutex_lock(&start_mutex);
-
-	if (oprofile_started) {
-		err = -EBUSY;
-		goto out;
+	if (!oprofile_started) {
+		*addr = val;
+		err = 0;
 	}
-
-	if (!oprofile_ops.backtrace) {
-		err = -EINVAL;
-		goto out;
-	}
-
-	oprofile_backtrace_depth = val;
-
-out:
 	mutex_unlock(&start_mutex);
+
 	return err;
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/oprofile/oprof.h b/drivers/oprofile/oprof.h
index 47e12cb4ee8b..177b73de5e5f 100644
--- a/drivers/oprofile/oprof.h
+++ b/drivers/oprofile/oprof.h
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ void oprofile_create_files(struct super_block *sb, struct dentry *root);
 int oprofile_timer_init(struct oprofile_operations *ops);
 void oprofile_timer_exit(void);
 
-int oprofile_set_backtrace(unsigned long depth);
+int oprofile_set_ulong(unsigned long *addr, unsigned long val);
 int oprofile_set_timeout(unsigned long time);
 
 #endif /* OPROF_H */
diff --git a/drivers/oprofile/oprofile_files.c b/drivers/oprofile/oprofile_files.c
index bbd7516e0869..ccf099e684a4 100644
--- a/drivers/oprofile/oprofile_files.c
+++ b/drivers/oprofile/oprofile_files.c
@@ -79,14 +79,17 @@ static ssize_t depth_write(struct file *file, char const __user *buf, size_t cou
 	if (*offset)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
+	if (!oprofile_ops.backtrace)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	retval = oprofilefs_ulong_from_user(&val, buf, count);
 	if (retval)
 		return retval;
 
-	retval = oprofile_set_backtrace(val);
-
+	retval = oprofile_set_ulong(&oprofile_backtrace_depth, val);
 	if (retval)
 		return retval;
+
 	return count;
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/oprofile/oprofilefs.c b/drivers/oprofile/oprofilefs.c
index 789a1a857ddf..1944621930d9 100644
--- a/drivers/oprofile/oprofilefs.c
+++ b/drivers/oprofile/oprofilefs.c
@@ -91,16 +91,20 @@ static ssize_t ulong_read_file(struct file *file, char __user *buf, size_t count
 
 static ssize_t ulong_write_file(struct file *file, char const __user *buf, size_t count, loff_t *offset)
 {
-	unsigned long *value = file->private_data;
+	unsigned long value;
 	int retval;
 
 	if (*offset)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
-	retval = oprofilefs_ulong_from_user(value, buf, count);
-
+	retval = oprofilefs_ulong_from_user(&value, buf, count);
 	if (retval)
 		return retval;
+
+	retval = oprofile_set_ulong(file->private_data, value);
+	if (retval)
+		return retval;
+
 	return count;
 }