diff --git a/fs/ext2/namei.c b/fs/ext2/namei.c
index ccfbbf59e2fc..1a5421a34ef7 100644
--- a/fs/ext2/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ext2/namei.c
@@ -136,9 +136,7 @@ static int ext2_mknod (struct inode * dir, struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode,
 	err = PTR_ERR(inode);
 	if (!IS_ERR(inode)) {
 		init_special_inode(inode, inode->i_mode, rdev);
-#ifdef CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR
 		inode->i_op = &ext2_special_inode_operations;
-#endif
 		mark_inode_dirty(inode);
 		err = ext2_add_nondir(dentry, inode);
 	}