diff --git a/include/asm-xtensa/rwsem.h b/include/asm-xtensa/rwsem.h
index 0aad3a587551..e39edf5c86f2 100644
--- a/include/asm-xtensa/rwsem.h
+++ b/include/asm-xtensa/rwsem.h
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@
 #ifndef _XTENSA_RWSEM_H
 #define _XTENSA_RWSEM_H
 
+#ifndef _LINUX_RWSEM_H
+#error "Please don't include <asm/rwsem.h> directly, use <linux/rwsem.h> instead."
+#endif
+
 #include <linux/list.h>
 #include <linux/spinlock.h>
 #include <asm/atomic.h>