diff --git a/ipc/sem.c b/ipc/sem.c
index c14883f5a4b5..084e1f55ca72 100644
--- a/ipc/sem.c
+++ b/ipc/sem.c
@@ -772,7 +772,7 @@ static void unlink_queue(struct sem_array *sma, struct sem_queue *q)
  * modified the array.
  * Note that wait-for-zero operations are handled without restart.
  */
-static int check_restart(struct sem_array *sma, struct sem_queue *q)
+static inline int check_restart(struct sem_array *sma, struct sem_queue *q)
 {
 	/* pending complex alter operations are too difficult to analyse */
 	if (!list_empty(&sma->pending_alter))