diff --git a/fs/tracefs/event_inode.c b/fs/tracefs/event_inode.c
index 16ca8d9759b18e..b2285d5f3fedf9 100644
--- a/fs/tracefs/event_inode.c
+++ b/fs/tracefs/event_inode.c
@@ -378,13 +378,12 @@ static void free_ei(struct eventfs_inode *ei)
 }
 
 /**
- * eventfs_set_ei_status_free - remove the dentry reference from an eventfs_inode
- * @ti: the tracefs_inode of the dentry
+ * eventfs_d_release - dentry is going away
  * @dentry: dentry which has the reference to remove.
  *
  * Remove the association between a dentry from an eventfs_inode.
  */
-void eventfs_set_ei_status_free(struct tracefs_inode *ti, struct dentry *dentry)
+void eventfs_d_release(struct dentry *dentry)
 {
 	struct eventfs_inode *ei;
 	int i;
diff --git a/fs/tracefs/inode.c b/fs/tracefs/inode.c
index 5c84460feeebba..d65ffad4c327ca 100644
--- a/fs/tracefs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/tracefs/inode.c
@@ -377,21 +377,30 @@ static const struct super_operations tracefs_super_operations = {
 	.show_options	= tracefs_show_options,
 };
 
-static void tracefs_dentry_iput(struct dentry *dentry, struct inode *inode)
+/*
+ * It would be cleaner if eventfs had its own dentry ops.
+ *
+ * Note that d_revalidate is called potentially under RCU,
+ * so it can't take the eventfs mutex etc. It's fine - if
+ * we open a file just as it's marked dead, things will
+ * still work just fine, and just see the old stale case.
+ */
+static void tracefs_d_release(struct dentry *dentry)
 {
-	struct tracefs_inode *ti;
+	if (dentry->d_fsdata)
+		eventfs_d_release(dentry);
+}
 
-	if (!dentry || !inode)
-		return;
+static int tracefs_d_revalidate(struct dentry *dentry, unsigned int flags)
+{
+	struct eventfs_inode *ei = dentry->d_fsdata;
 
-	ti = get_tracefs(inode);
-	if (ti && ti->flags & TRACEFS_EVENT_INODE)
-		eventfs_set_ei_status_free(ti, dentry);
-	iput(inode);
+	return !(ei && ei->is_freed);
 }
 
 static const struct dentry_operations tracefs_dentry_operations = {
-	.d_iput = tracefs_dentry_iput,
+	.d_revalidate = tracefs_d_revalidate,
+	.d_release = tracefs_d_release,
 };
 
 static int trace_fill_super(struct super_block *sb, void *data, int silent)
diff --git a/fs/tracefs/internal.h b/fs/tracefs/internal.h
index 932733a2696a13..4b50a0668055ba 100644
--- a/fs/tracefs/internal.h
+++ b/fs/tracefs/internal.h
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ struct dentry *tracefs_start_creating(const char *name, struct dentry *parent);
 struct dentry *tracefs_end_creating(struct dentry *dentry);
 struct dentry *tracefs_failed_creating(struct dentry *dentry);
 struct inode *tracefs_get_inode(struct super_block *sb);
-void eventfs_set_ei_status_free(struct tracefs_inode *ti, struct dentry *dentry);
+
+void eventfs_d_release(struct dentry *dentry);
 
 #endif /* _TRACEFS_INTERNAL_H */