diff --git a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/ptlrpc/client.c b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/ptlrpc/client.c
index 45b7af77c37e..347110e6e822 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/ptlrpc/client.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/ptlrpc/client.c
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ static int ptlrpc_at_recv_early_reply(struct ptlrpc_request *req)
 	return rc;
 }
 
-struct kmem_cache *request_cache;
+static struct kmem_cache *request_cache;
 
 int ptlrpc_request_cache_init(void)
 {