return 0;
 }
 
+static __ro_after_init DEFINE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(poking_init_done);
+
 /*
  * Although BUG_ON() is rude, in this case it should only happen if ENOMEM, and
  * we judge it as being preferable to a kernel that will crash later when
        BUG_ON(!cpuhp_setup_state(CPUHP_AP_ONLINE_DYN,
                "powerpc/text_poke:online", text_area_cpu_up,
                text_area_cpu_down));
+       static_branch_enable(&poking_init_done);
 }
 
 /*
         * when text_poke_area is not ready, but we still need
         * to allow patching. We just do the plain old patching
         */
-       if (!this_cpu_read(text_poke_area))
+       if (!static_branch_likely(&poking_init_done))
                return raw_patch_instruction(addr, instr);
 
        local_irq_save(flags);