diff --git a/Documentation/atomic_ops.txt b/Documentation/atomic_ops.txt
index 05851e9982ed..938f99957052 100644
--- a/Documentation/atomic_ops.txt
+++ b/Documentation/atomic_ops.txt
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ suffice:
 
 	typedef struct { volatile int counter; } atomic_t;
 
+local_t is very similar to atomic_t. If the counter is per CPU and only
+updated by one CPU, local_t is probably more appropriate. Please see
+Documentation/local_ops.txt for the semantics of local_t.
+
 	The first operations to implement for atomic_t's are the
 initializers and plain reads.