diff --git a/fs/Makefile b/fs/Makefile
index c62198e859d7..290716863adb 100644
--- a/fs/Makefile
+++ b/fs/Makefile
@@ -123,7 +123,11 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_NILFS2_FS)		+= nilfs2/
 obj-$(CONFIG_BEFS_FS)		+= befs/
 obj-$(CONFIG_HOSTFS)		+= hostfs/
 obj-$(CONFIG_CACHEFILES)	+= cachefiles/
-obj-$(CONFIG_DEBUG_FS)		+= debugfs/
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_DEBUG_FS),y)
+obj-y				+= debugfs/
+else
+obj-$(CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK)	+= debugfs/
+endif
 obj-$(CONFIG_TRACING)		+= tracefs/
 obj-$(CONFIG_OCFS2_FS)		+= ocfs2/
 obj-$(CONFIG_BTRFS_FS)		+= btrfs/
diff --git a/fs/debugfs/Makefile b/fs/debugfs/Makefile
index 840c45696668..a1f5982cd771 100644
--- a/fs/debugfs/Makefile
+++ b/fs/debugfs/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 debugfs-objs	:= inode.o file.o
 
-obj-$(CONFIG_DEBUG_FS)	+= debugfs.o
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK),y)
+ccflags-y	:= -DCONFIG_DEBUG_FS
+endif
 
+obj-y		+= debugfs.o
diff --git a/lib/Kconfig.debug b/lib/Kconfig.debug
index bc1a92af72a8..3583e9d5e5d0 100644
--- a/lib/Kconfig.debug
+++ b/lib/Kconfig.debug
@@ -577,8 +577,7 @@ config HAVE_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK
 
 config DEBUG_KMEMLEAK
 	bool "Kernel memory leak detector"
-	depends on DEBUG_KERNEL && HAVE_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK
-	select DEBUG_FS
+	depends on HAVE_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK
 	select STACKTRACE if STACKTRACE_SUPPORT
 	select KALLSYMS
 	select CRC32
diff --git a/mm/Makefile b/mm/Makefile
index 9b0a45f4651b..afcbe4b9ef51 100644
--- a/mm/Makefile
+++ b/mm/Makefile
@@ -109,3 +109,5 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_HARDENED_USERCOPY) += usercopy.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_PERCPU_STATS) += percpu-stats.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_HMM) += hmm.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_MEMFD_CREATE) += memfd.o
+
+CFLAGS_kmemleak.o += -DCONFIG_DEBUG_FS