diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/setup.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/setup.h
index 7590ac2570b9..f8b9ee97a891 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/setup.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/setup.h
@@ -108,19 +108,16 @@ extern unsigned long _brk_end;
 void *extend_brk(size_t size, size_t align);
 
 /*
- * Reserve space in the brk section.  The name must be unique within the file,
- * and somewhat descriptive.  The size is in bytes.
+ * Reserve space in the .brk section, which is a block of memory from which the
+ * caller is allowed to allocate very early (before even memblock is available)
+ * by calling extend_brk().  All allocated memory will be eventually converted
+ * to memblock.  Any leftover unallocated memory will be freed.
  *
- * The allocation is done using inline asm (rather than using a section
- * attribute on a normal variable) in order to allow the use of @nobits, so
- * that it doesn't take up any space in the vmlinux file.
+ * The size is in bytes.
  */
-#define RESERVE_BRK(name, size)						\
-	asm(".pushsection .brk_reservation,\"aw\",@nobits\n\t"		\
-	    ".brk." #name ":\n\t"					\
-	    ".skip " __stringify(size) "\n\t"				\
-	    ".size .brk." #name ", " __stringify(size) "\n\t"		\
-	    ".popsection\n\t")
+#define RESERVE_BRK(name, size)					\
+	__section(".bss..brk") __aligned(1) __used	\
+	static char __brk_##name[size]
 
 extern void probe_roms(void);
 #ifdef __i386__
@@ -133,12 +130,19 @@ asmlinkage void __init x86_64_start_reservations(char *real_mode_data);
 
 #endif /* __i386__ */
 #endif /* _SETUP */
-#else
-#define RESERVE_BRK(name,sz)				\
-	.pushsection .brk_reservation,"aw",@nobits;	\
-.brk.name:						\
-1:	.skip sz;					\
-	.size .brk.name,.-1b;				\
+
+#else  /* __ASSEMBLY */
+
+.macro __RESERVE_BRK name, size
+	.pushsection .bss..brk, "aw"
+SYM_DATA_START(__brk_\name)
+	.skip \size
+SYM_DATA_END(__brk_\name)
 	.popsection
+.endm
+
+#define RESERVE_BRK(name, size) __RESERVE_BRK name, size
+
 #endif /* __ASSEMBLY__ */
+
 #endif /* _ASM_X86_SETUP_H */
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/setup.c b/arch/x86/kernel/setup.c
index 3ebb85327edb..bd6c6fd373ae 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/setup.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/setup.c
@@ -67,11 +67,6 @@ RESERVE_BRK(dmi_alloc, 65536);
 #endif
 
 
-/*
- * Range of the BSS area. The size of the BSS area is determined
- * at link time, with RESERVE_BRK() facility reserving additional
- * chunks.
- */
 unsigned long _brk_start = (unsigned long)__brk_base;
 unsigned long _brk_end   = (unsigned long)__brk_base;
 
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S b/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
index f5f6dc2e8007..81aba718ecd5 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
@@ -385,10 +385,10 @@ SECTIONS
 	__end_of_kernel_reserve = .;
 
 	. = ALIGN(PAGE_SIZE);
-	.brk : AT(ADDR(.brk) - LOAD_OFFSET) {
+	.brk (NOLOAD) : AT(ADDR(.brk) - LOAD_OFFSET) {
 		__brk_base = .;
 		. += 64 * 1024;		/* 64k alignment slop space */
-		*(.brk_reservation)	/* areas brk users have reserved */
+		*(.bss..brk)		/* areas brk users have reserved */
 		__brk_limit = .;
 	}