diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_drv.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_drv.c
index 3cf40864d4a6..428c569aaaf1 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_drv.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_drv.c
@@ -267,8 +267,7 @@ void drm_minor_release(struct drm_minor *minor)
  *
  * The following example shows a typical structure of a DRM display driver.
  * The example focus on the probe() function and the other functions that is
- * almost always present and serves as a demonstration of devm_drm_dev_init()
- * usage with its accompanying drm_driver->release callback.
+ * almost always present and serves as a demonstration of devm_drm_dev_init().
  *
  * .. code-block:: c
  *
@@ -278,16 +277,8 @@ void drm_minor_release(struct drm_minor *minor)
  *		struct clk *pclk;
  *	};
  *
- *	static void driver_drm_release(struct drm_device *drm)
- *	{
- *		struct driver_device *priv = container_of(...);
- *
- *		drm_mode_config_cleanup(drm);
- *	}
- *
  *	static struct drm_driver driver_drm_driver = {
  *		[...]
- *		.release = driver_drm_release,
  *	};
  *
  *	static int driver_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
@@ -312,7 +303,9 @@ void drm_minor_release(struct drm_minor *minor)
  *		}
  *		drmm_add_final_kfree(drm, priv);
  *
- *		drm_mode_config_init(drm);
+ *		ret = drm_mode_config_init(drm);
+ *		if (ret)
+ *			return ret;
  *
  *		priv->userspace_facing = drmm_kzalloc(..., GFP_KERNEL);
  *		if (!priv->userspace_facing)
@@ -710,8 +703,7 @@ static void devm_drm_dev_init_release(void *data)
  * @driver: DRM driver
  *
  * Managed drm_dev_init(). The DRM device initialized with this function is
- * automatically put on driver detach using drm_dev_put(). You must supply a
- * &drm_driver.release callback to control the finalization explicitly.
+ * automatically put on driver detach using drm_dev_put().
  *
  * RETURNS:
  * 0 on success, or error code on failure.
@@ -722,9 +714,6 @@ int devm_drm_dev_init(struct device *parent,
 {
 	int ret;
 
-	if (WARN_ON(!driver->release))
-		return -EINVAL;
-
 	ret = drm_dev_init(dev, driver, parent);
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_mode_config.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_mode_config.c
index 08e6eff6a179..957db1edba0c 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_mode_config.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_mode_config.c
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include <drm/drm_drv.h>
 #include <drm/drm_encoder.h>
 #include <drm/drm_file.h>
+#include <drm/drm_managed.h>
 #include <drm/drm_mode_config.h>
 #include <drm/drm_print.h>
 #include <linux/dma-resv.h>
@@ -373,6 +374,11 @@ static int drm_mode_create_standard_properties(struct drm_device *dev)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static void drm_mode_config_init_release(struct drm_device *dev, void *ptr)
+{
+	drm_mode_config_cleanup(dev);
+}
+
 /**
  * drm_mode_config_init - initialize DRM mode_configuration structure
  * @dev: DRM device
@@ -384,8 +390,10 @@ static int drm_mode_create_standard_properties(struct drm_device *dev)
  * problem, since this should happen single threaded at init time. It is the
  * driver's problem to ensure this guarantee.
  *
+ * Cleanup is automatically handled through registering drm_mode_config_cleanup
+ * with drmm_add_action().
  */
-void drm_mode_config_init(struct drm_device *dev)
+int drm_mode_config_init(struct drm_device *dev)
 {
 	mutex_init(&dev->mode_config.mutex);
 	drm_modeset_lock_init(&dev->mode_config.connection_mutex);
@@ -443,6 +451,8 @@ void drm_mode_config_init(struct drm_device *dev)
 		drm_modeset_acquire_fini(&modeset_ctx);
 		dma_resv_fini(&resv);
 	}
+
+	return drmm_add_action(dev, drm_mode_config_init_release, NULL);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_mode_config_init);
 
diff --git a/include/drm/drm_mode_config.h b/include/drm/drm_mode_config.h
index 3bcbe30339f0..160a3e4b51c3 100644
--- a/include/drm/drm_mode_config.h
+++ b/include/drm/drm_mode_config.h
@@ -929,7 +929,7 @@ struct drm_mode_config {
 	const struct drm_mode_config_helper_funcs *helper_private;
 };
 
-void drm_mode_config_init(struct drm_device *dev);
+int drm_mode_config_init(struct drm_device *dev);
 void drm_mode_config_reset(struct drm_device *dev);
 void drm_mode_config_cleanup(struct drm_device *dev);
 
