diff --git a/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt b/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt
index 83009fdcbbc..2e2c2ea90ce 100644
--- a/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt
+++ b/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt
@@ -169,3 +169,62 @@ three different ways to find such a match:
       be probed later if another device registers.  (Which is OK, since
       this interface is only for use with non-hotpluggable devices.)
 
+
+Early Platform Devices and Drivers
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The early platform interfaces provide platform data to platform device
+drivers early on during the system boot. The code is built on top of the
+early_param() command line parsing and can be executed very early on.
+
+Example: "earlyprintk" class early serial console in 6 steps
+
+1. Registering early platform device data
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The architecture code registers platform device data using the function
+early_platform_add_devices(). In the case of early serial console this
+should be hardware configuration for the serial port. Devices registered
+at this point will later on be matched against early platform drivers.
+
+2. Parsing kernel command line
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The architecture code calls parse_early_param() to parse the kernel
+command line. This will execute all matching early_param() callbacks.
+User specified early platform devices will be registered at this point.
+For the early serial console case the user can specify port on the
+kernel command line as "earlyprintk=serial.0" where "earlyprintk" is
+the class string, "serial" is the name of the platfrom driver and
+0 is the platform device id. If the id is -1 then the dot and the
+id can be omitted.
+
+3. Installing early platform drivers belonging to a certain class
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The architecture code may optionally force registration of all early
+platform drivers belonging to a certain class using the function
+early_platform_driver_register_all(). User specified devices from
+step 2 have priority over these. This step is omitted by the serial
+driver example since the early serial driver code should be disabled
+unless the user has specified port on the kernel command line.
+
+4. Early platform driver registration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Compiled-in platform drivers making use of early_platform_init() are
+automatically registered during step 2 or 3. The serial driver example
+should use early_platform_init("earlyprintk", &platform_driver).
+
+5. Probing of early platform drivers belonging to a certain class
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The architecture code calls early_platform_driver_probe() to match
+registered early platform devices associated with a certain class with
+registered early platform drivers. Matched devices will get probed().
+This step can be executed at any point during the early boot. As soon
+as possible may be good for the serial port case.
+
+6. Inside the early platform driver probe()
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The driver code needs to take special care during early boot, especially
+when it comes to memory allocation and interrupt registration. The code
+in the probe() function can use is_early_platform_device() to check if
+it is called at early platform device or at the regular platform device
+time. The early serial driver performs register_console() at this point.
+
+For further information, see <linux/platform_device.h>.
diff --git a/drivers/base/platform.c b/drivers/base/platform.c
index d2198f64ad4..b5b6c973a2e 100644
--- a/drivers/base/platform.c
+++ b/drivers/base/platform.c
@@ -990,6 +990,8 @@ int __init platform_bus_init(void)
 {
 	int error;
 
+	early_platform_cleanup();
+
 	error = device_register(&platform_bus);
 	if (error)
 		return error;
@@ -1020,3 +1022,240 @@ u64 dma_get_required_mask(struct device *dev)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(dma_get_required_mask);
 #endif
+
+static __initdata LIST_HEAD(early_platform_driver_list);
+static __initdata LIST_HEAD(early_platform_device_list);
+
+/**
+ * early_platform_driver_register
+ * @edrv: early_platform driver structure
+ * @buf: string passed from early_param()
+ */
+int __init early_platform_driver_register(struct early_platform_driver *epdrv,
+					  char *buf)
+{
+	unsigned long index;
+	int n;
+
+	/* Simply add the driver to the end of the global list.
+	 * Drivers will by default be put on the list in compiled-in order.
+	 */
+	if (!epdrv->list.next) {
+		INIT_LIST_HEAD(&epdrv->list);
+		list_add_tail(&epdrv->list, &early_platform_driver_list);
+	}
+
+	/* If the user has specified device then make sure the driver
+	 * gets prioritized. The driver of the last device specified on
+	 * command line will be put first on the list.
+	 */
+	n = strlen(epdrv->pdrv->driver.name);
+	if (buf && !strncmp(buf, epdrv->pdrv->driver.name, n)) {
+		list_move(&epdrv->list, &early_platform_driver_list);
+
+		if (!strcmp(buf, epdrv->pdrv->driver.name))
+			epdrv->requested_id = -1;
+		else if (buf[n] == '.' && strict_strtoul(&buf[n + 1], 10,
+							 &index) == 0)
+			epdrv->requested_id = index;
+		else
+			epdrv->requested_id = EARLY_PLATFORM_ID_ERROR;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/**
+ * early_platform_add_devices - add a numbers of early platform devices
+ * @devs: array of early platform devices to add
+ * @num: number of early platform devices in array
+ */
+void __init early_platform_add_devices(struct platform_device **devs, int num)
+{
+	struct device *dev;
+	int i;
+
+	/* simply add the devices to list */
+	for (i = 0; i < num; i++) {
+		dev = &devs[i]->dev;
+
+		if (!dev->devres_head.next) {
+			INIT_LIST_HEAD(&dev->devres_head);
+			list_add_tail(&dev->devres_head,
+				      &early_platform_device_list);
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+/**
+ * early_platform_driver_register_all
+ * @class_str: string to identify early platform driver class
+ */
+void __init early_platform_driver_register_all(char *class_str)
+{
+	/* The "class_str" parameter may or may not be present on the kernel
+	 * command line. If it is present then there may be more than one
+	 * matching parameter.
+	 *
+	 * Since we register our early platform drivers using early_param()
+	 * we need to make sure that they also get registered in the case
+	 * when the parameter is missing from the kernel command line.
+	 *
+	 * We use parse_early_options() to make sure the early_param() gets
+	 * called at least once. The early_param() may be called more than
+	 * once since the name of the preferred device may be specified on
+	 * the kernel command line. early_platform_driver_register() handles
+	 * this case for us.
+	 */
+	parse_early_options(class_str);
+}
+
+/**
+ * early_platform_match
+ * @edrv: early platform driver structure
+ * @id: id to match against
+ */
+static  __init struct platform_device *
+early_platform_match(struct early_platform_driver *epdrv, int id)
+{
+	struct platform_device *pd;
+
+	list_for_each_entry(pd, &early_platform_device_list, dev.devres_head)
+		if (platform_match(&pd->dev, &epdrv->pdrv->driver))
+			if (pd->id == id)
+				return pd;
+
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+/**
+ * early_platform_left
+ * @edrv: early platform driver structure
+ * @id: return true if id or above exists
+ */
+static  __init int early_platform_left(struct early_platform_driver *epdrv,
+				       int id)
+{
+	struct platform_device *pd;
+
+	list_for_each_entry(pd, &early_platform_device_list, dev.devres_head)
+		if (platform_match(&pd->dev, &epdrv->pdrv->driver))
+			if (pd->id >= id)
+				return 1;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/**
+ * early_platform_driver_probe_id
+ * @class_str: string to identify early platform driver class
+ * @id: id to match against
+ * @nr_probe: number of platform devices to successfully probe before exiting
+ */
+static int __init early_platform_driver_probe_id(char *class_str,
+						 int id,
+						 int nr_probe)
+{
+	struct early_platform_driver *epdrv;
+	struct platform_device *match;
+	int match_id;
+	int n = 0;
+	int left = 0;
+
+	list_for_each_entry(epdrv, &early_platform_driver_list, list) {
+		/* only use drivers matching our class_str */
+		if (strcmp(class_str, epdrv->class_str))
+			continue;
+
+		if (id == -2) {
+			match_id = epdrv->requested_id;
+			left = 1;
+
+		} else {
+			match_id = id;
+			left += early_platform_left(epdrv, id);
+
+			/* skip requested id */
+			switch (epdrv->requested_id) {
+			case EARLY_PLATFORM_ID_ERROR:
+			case EARLY_PLATFORM_ID_UNSET:
+				break;
+			default:
+				if (epdrv->requested_id == id)
+					match_id = EARLY_PLATFORM_ID_UNSET;
+			}
+		}
+
+		switch (match_id) {
+		case EARLY_PLATFORM_ID_ERROR:
+			pr_warning("%s: unable to parse %s parameter\n",
+				   class_str, epdrv->pdrv->driver.name);
+			/* fall-through */
+		case EARLY_PLATFORM_ID_UNSET:
+			match = NULL;
+			break;
+		default:
+			match = early_platform_match(epdrv, match_id);
+		}
+
+		if (match) {
+			if (epdrv->pdrv->probe(match))
+				pr_warning("%s: unable to probe %s early.\n",
+					   class_str, match->name);
+			else
+				n++;
+		}
+
+		if (n >= nr_probe)
+			break;
+	}
+
+	if (left)
+		return n;
+	else
+		return -ENODEV;
+}
+
+/**
+ * early_platform_driver_probe
+ * @class_str: string to identify early platform driver class
+ * @nr_probe: number of platform devices to successfully probe before exiting
+ * @user_only: only probe user specified early platform devices
+ */
+int __init early_platform_driver_probe(char *class_str,
+				       int nr_probe,
+				       int user_only)
+{
+	int k, n, i;
+
+	n = 0;
+	for (i = -2; n < nr_probe; i++) {
+		k = early_platform_driver_probe_id(class_str, i, nr_probe - n);
+
+		if (k < 0)
+			break;
+
+		n += k;
+
+		if (user_only)
+			break;
+	}
+
+	return n;
+}
+
+/**
+ * early_platform_cleanup - clean up early platform code
+ */
+void __init early_platform_cleanup(void)
+{
+	struct platform_device *pd, *pd2;
+
+	/* clean up the devres list used to chain devices */
+	list_for_each_entry_safe(pd, pd2, &early_platform_device_list,
+				 dev.devres_head) {
+		list_del(&pd->dev.devres_head);
+		memset(&pd->dev.devres_head, 0, sizeof(pd->dev.devres_head));
+	}
+}
+
diff --git a/include/linux/init.h b/include/linux/init.h
index 68cb0265d00..f121a7a10c3 100644
--- a/include/linux/init.h
+++ b/include/linux/init.h
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ struct obs_kernel_param {
 
 /* Relies on boot_command_line being set */
 void __init parse_early_param(void);
+void __init parse_early_options(char *cmdline);
 #endif /* __ASSEMBLY__ */
 
 /**
diff --git a/include/linux/platform_device.h b/include/linux/platform_device.h
index 76e470a299b..72736fd8223 100644
--- a/include/linux/platform_device.h
+++ b/include/linux/platform_device.h
@@ -77,4 +77,46 @@ extern int platform_driver_probe(struct platform_driver *driver,
 #define platform_get_drvdata(_dev)	dev_get_drvdata(&(_dev)->dev)
 #define platform_set_drvdata(_dev,data)	dev_set_drvdata(&(_dev)->dev, (data))
 
+/* early platform driver interface */
+struct early_platform_driver {
+	const char *class_str;
+	struct platform_driver *pdrv;
+	struct list_head list;
+	int requested_id;
+};
+
+#define EARLY_PLATFORM_ID_UNSET -2
+#define EARLY_PLATFORM_ID_ERROR -3
+
+extern int early_platform_driver_register(struct early_platform_driver *epdrv,
+					  char *buf);
+extern void early_platform_add_devices(struct platform_device **devs, int num);
+
+static inline int is_early_platform_device(struct platform_device *pdev)
+{
+	return !pdev->dev.driver;
+}
+
+extern void early_platform_driver_register_all(char *class_str);
+extern int early_platform_driver_probe(char *class_str,
+				       int nr_probe, int user_only);
+extern void early_platform_cleanup(void);
+
+
+#ifndef MODULE
+#define early_platform_init(class_string, platform_driver)		\
+static __initdata struct early_platform_driver early_driver = {		\
+	.class_str = class_string,					\
+	.pdrv = platform_driver,					\
+	.requested_id = EARLY_PLATFORM_ID_UNSET,			\
+};									\
+static int __init early_platform_driver_setup_func(char *buf)		\
+{									\
+	return early_platform_driver_register(&early_driver, buf);	\
+}									\
+early_param(class_string, early_platform_driver_setup_func)
+#else /* MODULE */
+#define early_platform_init(class_string, platform_driver)
+#endif /* MODULE */
+
 #endif /* _PLATFORM_DEVICE_H_ */
diff --git a/init/main.c b/init/main.c
index 3585f073d63..3bbf93be744 100644
--- a/init/main.c
+++ b/init/main.c
@@ -492,6 +492,11 @@ static int __init do_early_param(char *param, char *val)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+void __init parse_early_options(char *cmdline)
+{
+	parse_args("early options", cmdline, NULL, 0, do_early_param);
+}
+
 /* Arch code calls this early on, or if not, just before other parsing. */
 void __init parse_early_param(void)
 {
@@ -503,7 +508,7 @@ void __init parse_early_param(void)
 
 	/* All fall through to do_early_param. */
 	strlcpy(tmp_cmdline, boot_command_line, COMMAND_LINE_SIZE);
-	parse_args("early options", tmp_cmdline, NULL, 0, do_early_param);
+	parse_early_options(tmp_cmdline);
 	done = 1;
 }