diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/todo.rst b/Documentation/gpu/todo.rst
index 68bdafa0284f5..f226f934ca5af 100644
--- a/Documentation/gpu/todo.rst
+++ b/Documentation/gpu/todo.rst
@@ -452,6 +452,19 @@ Contact: Thomas Zimmermann <tzimmermann@suse.de>
 
 Level: Starter
 
+Remove driver dependencies on FB_DEVICE
+---------------------------------------
+
+A number of fbdev drivers provide attributes via sysfs and therefore depend
+on CONFIG_FB_DEVICE to be selected. Review each driver and attempt to make
+any dependencies on CONFIG_FB_DEVICE optional. At the minimum, the respective
+code in the driver could be conditionalized via ifdef CONFIG_FB_DEVICE. Not
+all drivers might be able to drop CONFIG_FB_DEVICE.
+
+Contact: Thomas Zimmermann <tzimmermann@suse.de>
+
+Level: Starter
+
 
 Core refactorings
 =================
diff --git a/drivers/staging/fbtft/Kconfig b/drivers/staging/fbtft/Kconfig
index 4d29e8c1014e0..5dda3c65a38e7 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/fbtft/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/staging/fbtft/Kconfig
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 menuconfig FB_TFT
 	tristate "Support for small TFT LCD display modules"
 	depends on FB && SPI
+	depends on FB_DEVICE
 	depends on GPIOLIB || COMPILE_TEST
 	select FB_SYS_FILLRECT
 	select FB_SYS_COPYAREA
diff --git a/drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig b/drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig
index f82357d4f84da..19eaca5e04283 100644
--- a/drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig
@@ -57,6 +57,16 @@ config FIRMWARE_EDID
 	  combination with certain motherboards and monitors are known to
 	  suffer from this problem.
 
+config FB_DEVICE
+	bool "Provide legacy /dev/fb* device"
+	depends on FB
+	default y
+	help
+	  Say Y here if you want the legacy /dev/fb* device file and
+	  interfaces within sysfs anc procfs. It is only required if you
+	  have userspace programs that depend on fbdev for graphics output.
+	  This does not effect the framebuffer console. If unsure, say N.
+
 config FB_DDC
 	tristate
 	depends on FB
@@ -1545,6 +1555,7 @@ config FB_3DFX_I2C
 config FB_VOODOO1
 	tristate "3Dfx Voodoo Graphics (sst1) support"
 	depends on FB && PCI
+	depends on FB_DEVICE
 	select FB_CFB_FILLRECT
 	select FB_CFB_COPYAREA
 	select FB_CFB_IMAGEBLIT
@@ -1863,6 +1874,7 @@ config FB_SH_MOBILE_LCDC
 	tristate "SuperH Mobile LCDC framebuffer support"
 	depends on FB && HAVE_CLK && HAS_IOMEM
 	depends on SUPERH || ARCH_RENESAS || COMPILE_TEST
+	depends on FB_DEVICE
 	select FB_SYS_FILLRECT
 	select FB_SYS_COPYAREA
 	select FB_SYS_IMAGEBLIT
@@ -1932,6 +1944,7 @@ config FB_SMSCUFX
 config FB_UDL
 	tristate "Displaylink USB Framebuffer support"
 	depends on FB && USB
+	depends on FB_DEVICE
 	select FB_MODE_HELPERS
 	select FB_SYS_FILLRECT
 	select FB_SYS_COPYAREA
diff --git a/drivers/video/fbdev/core/Makefile b/drivers/video/fbdev/core/Makefile
index eea5938f74238..9150bafd9e899 100644
--- a/drivers/video/fbdev/core/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/video/fbdev/core/Makefile
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@
 obj-$(CONFIG_FB_NOTIFY)           += fb_notify.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_FB)                  += fb.o
 fb-y                              := fb_backlight.o \
-                                     fb_chrdev.o \
                                      fb_info.o \
-                                     fb_procfs.o \
-                                     fbmem.o fbmon.o fbcmap.o fbsysfs.o \
+                                     fbmem.o fbmon.o fbcmap.o \
                                      modedb.o fbcvt.o fb_cmdline.o fb_io_fops.o
 fb-$(CONFIG_FB_DEFERRED_IO)       += fb_defio.o
+fb-$(CONFIG_FB_DEVICE)            += fb_chrdev.o \
+                                     fb_procfs.o \
+                                     fbsysfs.o
 
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE),y)
 fb-y				  += fbcon.o bitblit.o softcursor.o
diff --git a/drivers/video/fbdev/core/fb_internal.h b/drivers/video/fbdev/core/fb_internal.h
index 0b43c0cd50968..4c8d509a00265 100644
--- a/drivers/video/fbdev/core/fb_internal.h
+++ b/drivers/video/fbdev/core/fb_internal.h
@@ -3,12 +3,22 @@
 #ifndef _FB_INTERNAL_H
 #define _FB_INTERNAL_H
 
+#include <linux/device.h>
 #include <linux/fb.h>
 #include <linux/mutex.h>
 
 /* fb_devfs.c */
+#if defined(CONFIG_FB_DEVICE)
 int fb_register_chrdev(void);
 void fb_unregister_chrdev(void);
+#else
+static inline int fb_register_chrdev(void)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+static inline void fb_unregister_chrdev(void)
+{ }
+#endif
 
 /* fbmem.c */
 extern struct class *fb_class;
@@ -19,11 +29,39 @@ struct fb_info *get_fb_info(unsigned int idx);
 void put_fb_info(struct fb_info *fb_info);
 
 /* fb_procfs.c */
+#if defined(CONFIG_FB_DEVICE)
 int fb_init_procfs(void);
 void fb_cleanup_procfs(void);
+#else
+static inline int fb_init_procfs(void)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+static inline void fb_cleanup_procfs(void)
+{ }
+#endif
 
 /* fbsysfs.c */
+#if defined(CONFIG_FB_DEVICE)
 int fb_device_create(struct fb_info *fb_info);
 void fb_device_destroy(struct fb_info *fb_info);
+#else
+static inline int fb_device_create(struct fb_info *fb_info)
+{
+	/*
+	 * Acquire a reference on the parent device to avoid
+	 * unplug operations behind our back. With the fbdev
+	 * device enabled, this is performed within register_device().
+	 */
+	get_device(fb_info->device);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+static inline void fb_device_destroy(struct fb_info *fb_info)
+{
+	/* Undo the get_device() from fb_device_create() */
+	put_device(fb_info->device);
+}
+#endif
 
 #endif
diff --git a/drivers/video/fbdev/omap2/omapfb/Kconfig b/drivers/video/fbdev/omap2/omapfb/Kconfig
index 69f9cb03507ef..21069fdb7cc21 100644
--- a/drivers/video/fbdev/omap2/omapfb/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/video/fbdev/omap2/omapfb/Kconfig
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@ config OMAP2_VRFB
 menuconfig FB_OMAP2
 	tristate "OMAP2+ frame buffer support"
 	depends on FB
+	depends on FB_DEVICE
 	depends on DRM_OMAP = n
 	depends on GPIOLIB
-
 	select FB_OMAP2_DSS
 	select OMAP2_VRFB if ARCH_OMAP2 || ARCH_OMAP3
 	select FB_CFB_FILLRECT
diff --git a/include/linux/fb.h b/include/linux/fb.h
index 541a0e3ce21f4..40ed1028160c0 100644
--- a/include/linux/fb.h
+++ b/include/linux/fb.h
@@ -481,7 +481,9 @@ struct fb_info {
 
 	const struct fb_ops *fbops;
 	struct device *device;		/* This is the parent */
+#if defined(CONFIG_FB_DEVICE)
 	struct device *dev;		/* This is this fb device */
+#endif
 	int class_flag;                    /* private sysfs flags */
 #ifdef CONFIG_FB_TILEBLITTING
 	struct fb_tile_ops *tileops;    /* Tile Blitting */
