diff --git a/arch/arm/Kconfig.debug b/arch/arm/Kconfig.debug
index 21cc8a765988..a640f09ec842 100644
--- a/arch/arm/Kconfig.debug
+++ b/arch/arm/Kconfig.debug
@@ -690,6 +690,14 @@ config EARLY_PRINTK
 	  kernel low-level debugging functions. Add earlyprintk to your
 	  kernel parameters to enable this console.
 
+config EARLY_PRINTK_DIRECT
+	bool "Early printk direct"
+	depends on DEBUG_LL
+	help
+	  Say Y here if you want to have an early console using the
+	  kernel low-level debugging functions and EARLY_PRINTK is
+	  not early enough.
+
 config OC_ETM
 	bool "On-chip ETM and ETB"
 	depends on ARM_AMBA
diff --git a/kernel/printk.c b/kernel/printk.c
index 9cb84eb1a9de..c2f720eb4283 100644
--- a/kernel/printk.c
+++ b/kernel/printk.c
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 #define CREATE_TRACE_POINTS
 #include <trace/events/printk.h>
 
-#ifdef        CONFIG_DEBUG_LL
+#ifdef CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK_DIRECT
 extern void printascii(char *);
 #endif
 
@@ -1556,10 +1556,6 @@ asmlinkage int vprintk_emit(int facility, int level,
 	 */
 	text_len = vscnprintf(text, sizeof(textbuf), fmt, args);
 
-#ifdef	CONFIG_DEBUG_LL
-	printascii(text);
-#endif
-
 	/* mark and strip a trailing newline */
 	if (text_len && text[text_len-1] == '\n') {
 		text_len--;
@@ -1586,6 +1582,10 @@ asmlinkage int vprintk_emit(int facility, int level,
 		}
 	}
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK_DIRECT
+	printascii(text);
+#endif
+
 	if (level == -1)
 		level = default_message_loglevel;