diff --git a/Documentation/printk-formats.txt b/Documentation/printk-formats.txt
index 361789df51ec..2f17e684b72e 100644
--- a/Documentation/printk-formats.txt
+++ b/Documentation/printk-formats.txt
@@ -50,42 +50,31 @@ Symbols/Function Pointers
 
 ::
 
-	%pF	versatile_init+0x0/0x110
-	%pf	versatile_init
-	%pS	versatile_init+0x0/0x110
-	%pSR	versatile_init+0x9/0x110
-		(with __builtin_extract_return_addr() translation)
-	%ps	versatile_init
-	%pB	prev_fn_of_versatile_init+0x88/0x88
-
-The ``F`` and ``f`` specifiers are for printing function pointers,
-for example, f->func, &gettimeofday. They have the same result as
-``S`` and ``s`` specifiers. But they do an extra conversion on
-ia64, ppc64 and parisc64 architectures where the function pointers
-are actually function descriptors.
-
-The ``S`` and ``s`` specifiers can be used for printing symbols
-from direct addresses, for example, __builtin_return_address(0),
-(void *)regs->ip. They result in the symbol name with (``S``) or
-without (``s``) offsets. If KALLSYMS are disabled then the symbol
-address is printed instead.
+        %pS     versatile_init+0x0/0x110
+        %ps     versatile_init
+        %pF     versatile_init+0x0/0x110
+        %pf     versatile_init
+        %pSR    versatile_init+0x9/0x110
+                (with __builtin_extract_return_addr() translation)
+        %pB     prev_fn_of_versatile_init+0x88/0x88
+
+The ``S`` and ``s`` specifiers are used for printing a pointer in symbolic
+format. They result in the symbol name with (``S``) or without (``s``)
+offsets. If KALLSYMS are disabled then the symbol address is printed instead.
+
+Note, that the ``F`` and ``f`` specifiers are identical to ``S`` (``s``)
+and thus deprecated. We have ``F`` and ``f`` because on ia64, ppc64 and
+parisc64 function pointers are indirect and, in fact, are function
+descriptors, which require additional dereferencing before we can lookup
+the symbol. As of now, ``S`` and ``s`` perform dereferencing on those
+platforms (when needed), so ``F`` and ``f`` exist for compatibility
+reasons only.
 
 The ``B`` specifier results in the symbol name with offsets and should be
 used when printing stack backtraces. The specifier takes into
 consideration the effect of compiler optimisations which may occur
 when tail-call``s are used and marked with the noreturn GCC attribute.
 
-Examples::
-
-	printk("Going to call: %pF\n", gettimeofday);
-	printk("Going to call: %pF\n", p->func);
-	printk("%s: called from %pS\n", __func__, (void *)_RET_IP_);
-	printk("%s: called from %pS\n", __func__,
-				(void *)__builtin_return_address(0));
-	printk("Faulted at %pS\n", (void *)regs->ip);
-	printk(" %s%pB\n", (reliable ? "" : "? "), (void *)*stack);
-
-
 Kernel Pointers
 ===============
 
diff --git a/include/linux/kallsyms.h b/include/linux/kallsyms.h
index 11dd93e42580..73f7e874c3e1 100644
--- a/include/linux/kallsyms.h
+++ b/include/linux/kallsyms.h
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 struct module;
 
+void *dereference_symbol_descriptor(void *ptr);
+
 #ifdef CONFIG_KALLSYMS
 /* Lookup the address for a symbol. Returns 0 if not found. */
 unsigned long kallsyms_lookup_name(const char *name);
diff --git a/kernel/kallsyms.c b/kernel/kallsyms.c
index 1966fe1c2b57..18b3dffc4b84 100644
--- a/kernel/kallsyms.c
+++ b/kernel/kallsyms.c
@@ -411,6 +411,25 @@ static int __sprint_symbol(char *buffer, unsigned long address,
 	return len;
 }
 
+void *dereference_symbol_descriptor(void *ptr)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_DEREFERENCE_FUNCTION_DESCRIPTOR
+	struct module *mod;
+
+	ptr = dereference_kernel_function_descriptor(ptr);
+	if (is_ksym_addr((unsigned long)ptr))
+		return ptr;
+
+	preempt_disable();
+	mod = __module_address((unsigned long)ptr);
+	preempt_enable();
+
+	if (mod)
+		ptr = dereference_module_function_descriptor(mod, ptr);
+#endif
+	return ptr;
+}
+
 /**
  * sprint_symbol - Look up a kernel symbol and return it in a text buffer
  * @buffer: buffer to be stored
diff --git a/lib/vsprintf.c b/lib/vsprintf.c
index 1746bae94d41..16e2eefb0f79 100644
--- a/lib/vsprintf.c
+++ b/lib/vsprintf.c
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@
 #include "../mm/internal.h"	/* For the trace_print_flags arrays */
 
 #include <asm/page.h>		/* for PAGE_SIZE */
-#include <asm/sections.h>	/* for dereference_function_descriptor() */
 #include <asm/byteorder.h>	/* cpu_to_le16 */
 
 #include <linux/string_helpers.h>
@@ -1723,10 +1722,10 @@ char *pointer(const char *fmt, char *buf, char *end, void *ptr,
 	switch (*fmt) {
 	case 'F':
 	case 'f':
-		ptr = dereference_function_descriptor(ptr);
-		/* Fallthrough */
 	case 'S':
 	case 's':
+		ptr = dereference_symbol_descriptor(ptr);
+		/* Fallthrough */
 	case 'B':
 		return symbol_string(buf, end, ptr, spec, fmt);
 	case 'R':
