diff --git a/Documentation/rpmsg.txt b/Documentation/rpmsg.txt
index f7edc3aa1e92..a95e36a43288 100644
--- a/Documentation/rpmsg.txt
+++ b/Documentation/rpmsg.txt
@@ -249,24 +249,12 @@ MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(rpmsg, rpmsg_driver_sample_id_table);
 
 static struct rpmsg_driver rpmsg_sample_client = {
 	.drv.name	= KBUILD_MODNAME,
-	.drv.owner	= THIS_MODULE,
 	.id_table	= rpmsg_driver_sample_id_table,
 	.probe		= rpmsg_sample_probe,
 	.callback	= rpmsg_sample_cb,
 	.remove		= rpmsg_sample_remove,
 };
-
-static int __init init(void)
-{
-	return register_rpmsg_driver(&rpmsg_sample_client);
-}
-module_init(init);
-
-static void __exit fini(void)
-{
-	unregister_rpmsg_driver(&rpmsg_sample_client);
-}
-module_exit(fini);
+module_rpmsg_driver(rpmsg_sample_client);
 
 Note: a similar sample which can be built and loaded can be found
 in samples/rpmsg/.
diff --git a/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c b/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c
index 1fcd27c1f183..fe03b2aef450 100644
--- a/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c
+++ b/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c
@@ -436,17 +436,19 @@ static struct bus_type rpmsg_bus = {
 };
 
 /**
- * register_rpmsg_driver() - register an rpmsg driver with the rpmsg bus
+ * __register_rpmsg_driver() - register an rpmsg driver with the rpmsg bus
  * @rpdrv: pointer to a struct rpmsg_driver
+ * @owner: owning module/driver
  *
  * Returns 0 on success, and an appropriate error value on failure.
  */
-int register_rpmsg_driver(struct rpmsg_driver *rpdrv)
+int __register_rpmsg_driver(struct rpmsg_driver *rpdrv, struct module *owner)
 {
 	rpdrv->drv.bus = &rpmsg_bus;
+	rpdrv->drv.owner = owner;
 	return driver_register(&rpdrv->drv);
 }
-EXPORT_SYMBOL(register_rpmsg_driver);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(__register_rpmsg_driver);
 
 /**
  * unregister_rpmsg_driver() - unregister an rpmsg driver from the rpmsg bus
diff --git a/include/linux/rpmsg.h b/include/linux/rpmsg.h
index 82a673905edb..ada50ff36da0 100644
--- a/include/linux/rpmsg.h
+++ b/include/linux/rpmsg.h
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ struct rpmsg_driver {
 
 int register_rpmsg_device(struct rpmsg_channel *dev);
 void unregister_rpmsg_device(struct rpmsg_channel *dev);
-int register_rpmsg_driver(struct rpmsg_driver *drv);
+int __register_rpmsg_driver(struct rpmsg_driver *drv, struct module *owner);
 void unregister_rpmsg_driver(struct rpmsg_driver *drv);
 void rpmsg_destroy_ept(struct rpmsg_endpoint *);
 struct rpmsg_endpoint *rpmsg_create_ept(struct rpmsg_channel *,
@@ -177,6 +177,22 @@ struct rpmsg_endpoint *rpmsg_create_ept(struct rpmsg_channel *,
 int
 rpmsg_send_offchannel_raw(struct rpmsg_channel *, u32, u32, void *, int, bool);
 
+/* use a macro to avoid include chaining to get THIS_MODULE */
+#define register_rpmsg_driver(drv) \
+	__register_rpmsg_driver(drv, THIS_MODULE)
+
+/**
+ * module_rpmsg_driver() - Helper macro for registering an rpmsg driver
+ * @__rpmsg_driver: rpmsg_driver struct
+ *
+ * Helper macro for rpmsg drivers which do not do anything special in module
+ * init/exit. This eliminates a lot of boilerplate.  Each module may only
+ * use this macro once, and calling it replaces module_init() and module_exit()
+ */
+#define module_rpmsg_driver(__rpmsg_driver) \
+	module_driver(__rpmsg_driver, register_rpmsg_driver, \
+			unregister_rpmsg_driver)
+
 /**
  * rpmsg_send() - send a message across to the remote processor
  * @rpdev: the rpmsg channel
diff --git a/samples/rpmsg/rpmsg_client_sample.c b/samples/rpmsg/rpmsg_client_sample.c
index 59b13440813d..d0e249c90668 100644
--- a/samples/rpmsg/rpmsg_client_sample.c
+++ b/samples/rpmsg/rpmsg_client_sample.c
@@ -77,24 +77,12 @@ MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(rpmsg, rpmsg_driver_sample_id_table);
 
 static struct rpmsg_driver rpmsg_sample_client = {
 	.drv.name	= KBUILD_MODNAME,
-	.drv.owner	= THIS_MODULE,
 	.id_table	= rpmsg_driver_sample_id_table,
 	.probe		= rpmsg_sample_probe,
 	.callback	= rpmsg_sample_cb,
 	.remove		= rpmsg_sample_remove,
 };
-
-static int __init rpmsg_client_sample_init(void)
-{
-	return register_rpmsg_driver(&rpmsg_sample_client);
-}
-module_init(rpmsg_client_sample_init);
-
-static void __exit rpmsg_client_sample_fini(void)
-{
-	unregister_rpmsg_driver(&rpmsg_sample_client);
-}
-module_exit(rpmsg_client_sample_fini);
+module_rpmsg_driver(rpmsg_sample_client);
 
 MODULE_DESCRIPTION("Remote processor messaging sample client driver");
 MODULE_LICENSE("GPL v2");