diff --git a/arch/powerpc/Kconfig b/arch/powerpc/Kconfig
index 7815eb0cc2a5..515bd10d32f6 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/powerpc/Kconfig
@@ -831,9 +831,9 @@ config CMDLINE_BOOL
 	bool "Default bootloader kernel arguments"
 
 config CMDLINE
-	string "Initial kernel command string"
-	depends on CMDLINE_BOOL
-	default "console=ttyS0,9600 console=tty0 root=/dev/sda2"
+	string "Initial kernel command string" if CMDLINE_BOOL
+	default "console=ttyS0,9600 console=tty0 root=/dev/sda2" if CMDLINE_BOOL
+	default ""
 	help
 	  On some platforms, there is currently no way for the boot loader to
 	  pass arguments to the kernel. For these platforms, you can supply
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/prom_init.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/prom_init.c
index f33ff4163a51..ecf083c46bdb 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/prom_init.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/prom_init.c
@@ -631,17 +631,14 @@ static void __init early_cmdline_parse(void)
 	const char *opt;
 
 	char *p;
-	int l __maybe_unused = 0;
+	int l = 0;
 
 	prom_cmd_line[0] = 0;
 	p = prom_cmd_line;
 	if ((long)prom.chosen > 0)
 		l = prom_getprop(prom.chosen, "bootargs", p, COMMAND_LINE_SIZE-1);
-#ifdef CONFIG_CMDLINE
-	if (l <= 0 || p[0] == '\0') /* dbl check */
-		strlcpy(prom_cmd_line,
-			CONFIG_CMDLINE, sizeof(prom_cmd_line));
-#endif /* CONFIG_CMDLINE */
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_CMDLINE_BOOL) && (l <= 0 || p[0] == '\0')) /* dbl check */
+		strlcpy(prom_cmd_line, CONFIG_CMDLINE, sizeof(prom_cmd_line));
 	prom_printf("command line: %s\n", prom_cmd_line);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_PPC64