diff --git a/include/linux/netdevice.h b/include/linux/netdevice.h
index 2e37f501278825a758a38bae3b15ee678f62102f..1a528548cd1d89e5b690b2ad92e8ec6fee24532c 100644
--- a/include/linux/netdevice.h
+++ b/include/linux/netdevice.h
@@ -589,7 +589,7 @@ extern int		dev_open(struct net_device *dev);
 extern int		dev_close(struct net_device *dev);
 extern int		dev_queue_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb);
 extern int		register_netdevice(struct net_device *dev);
-extern int		unregister_netdevice(struct net_device *dev);
+extern void		unregister_netdevice(struct net_device *dev);
 extern void		free_netdev(struct net_device *dev);
 extern void		synchronize_net(void);
 extern int 		register_netdevice_notifier(struct notifier_block *nb);
diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 455d589683e8a99e17edae82447b85fae7f219e6..1e94a1b9a0f4f1b588b88dde9d8c88a1cf39c10f 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -3247,7 +3247,7 @@ void synchronize_net(void)
  *	unregister_netdev() instead of this.
  */
 
-int unregister_netdevice(struct net_device *dev)
+void unregister_netdevice(struct net_device *dev)
 {
 	struct net_device *d, **dp;
 
@@ -3258,7 +3258,9 @@ int unregister_netdevice(struct net_device *dev)
 	if (dev->reg_state == NETREG_UNINITIALIZED) {
 		printk(KERN_DEBUG "unregister_netdevice: device %s/%p never "
 				  "was registered\n", dev->name, dev);
-		return -ENODEV;
+
+		WARN_ON(1);
+		return;
 	}
 
 	BUG_ON(dev->reg_state != NETREG_REGISTERED);
@@ -3280,11 +3282,7 @@ int unregister_netdevice(struct net_device *dev)
 			break;
 		}
 	}
-	if (!d) {
-		printk(KERN_ERR "unregister net_device: '%s' not found\n",
-		       dev->name);
-		return -ENODEV;
-	}
+	BUG_ON(!d);
 
 	dev->reg_state = NETREG_UNREGISTERING;
 
@@ -3316,7 +3314,6 @@ int unregister_netdevice(struct net_device *dev)
 	synchronize_net();
 
 	dev_put(dev);
-	return 0;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c b/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c
index 476cb6084c75047026980d44d7ba43b4da39a0cd..51c83500790f7af8270ee6b36a9e95f3fdaa61f4 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c
@@ -1008,7 +1008,8 @@ ipgre_tunnel_ioctl (struct net_device *dev, struct ifreq *ifr, int cmd)
 				goto done;
 			dev = t->dev;
 		}
-		err = unregister_netdevice(dev);
+		unregister_netdevice(dev);
+		err = 0;
 		break;
 
 	default:
diff --git a/net/ipv4/ipip.c b/net/ipv4/ipip.c
index 9d719d664e5b986db7c6308926decbd79dd2ee90..da8bbd20c7edcef2df0c464b57089d691dbe03d0 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/ipip.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/ipip.c
@@ -754,7 +754,8 @@ ipip_tunnel_ioctl (struct net_device *dev, struct ifreq *ifr, int cmd)
 				goto done;
 			dev = t->dev;
 		}
-		err = unregister_netdevice(dev);
+		unregister_netdevice(dev);
+		err = 0;
 		break;
 
 	default:
diff --git a/net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c b/net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c
index 8d918348f5bb62b4b61d8dbb82bc7670c1c98542..2b9e3bb7da653b5c3a4ef313590c7e1971832cfe 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c
@@ -999,7 +999,8 @@ ip6ip6_tnl_ioctl(struct net_device *dev, struct ifreq *ifr, int cmd)
 				break;
 			dev = t->dev;
 		}
-		err = unregister_netdevice(dev);
+		err = 0;
+		unregister_netdevice(dev);
 		break;
 	default:
 		err = -EINVAL;
diff --git a/net/ipv6/sit.c b/net/ipv6/sit.c
index 77b7b091143887b1cf5528365453e9ed696a17eb..47cfeadac6dd494267dbfe04825130a852594e13 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/sit.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/sit.c
@@ -686,7 +686,8 @@ ipip6_tunnel_ioctl (struct net_device *dev, struct ifreq *ifr, int cmd)
 				goto done;
 			dev = t->dev;
 		}
-		err = unregister_netdevice(dev);
+		unregister_netdevice(dev);
+		err = 0;
 		break;
 
 	default: