diff --git a/include/linux/device.h b/include/linux/device.h
index 0714d6e5d500..2e5926792f4e 100644
--- a/include/linux/device.h
+++ b/include/linux/device.h
@@ -1582,7 +1582,7 @@ do {									\
 			dev_driver_string(dev), dev_name(dev), ## arg)
 
 extern __printf(3, 4)
-int dev_err_probe(const struct device *dev, int err, const char *fmt, ...);
+int __must_check dev_err_probe(const struct device *dev, int err, const char *fmt, ...);
 
 /* Create alias, so I can be autoloaded. */
 #define MODULE_ALIAS_CHARDEV(major,minor) \