diff --git a/[refs] b/[refs]
index 3df1a1f902c3..dae6cb36b948 100644
--- a/[refs]
+++ b/[refs]
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 ---
-refs/heads/master: e2a763c20b89890d2153551b1af6962b135de4c0
+refs/heads/master: 8d31cfcecf67563d70cd68616cb8fb4384f24b51
diff --git a/trunk/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/trunk/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 5f71b3050253..e7c8ab1b54bd 100755
--- a/trunk/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/trunk/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -1435,6 +1435,17 @@ sub process {
 			ERROR("open brace '{' following $1 go on the same line\n" . $hereprev);
 		}
 
+# check for spacing round square brackets; allowed:
+#  1. with a type on the left -- int [] a;
+#  2. at the beginning of a line for slice initialisers -- [0..10] = 5,
+		while ($line =~ /(.*?\s)\[/g) {
+			my ($where, $prefix) = ($-[1], $1);
+			if ($prefix !~ /$Type\s+$/ &&
+			    ($where != 0 || $prefix !~ /^.\s+$/)) {
+				ERROR("space prohibited before open square bracket '['\n" . $herecurr);
+			}
+		}
+
 # check for spaces between functions and their parentheses.
 		while ($line =~ /($Ident)\s+\(/g) {
 			my $name = $1;