diff --git a/include/linux/ipc_namespace.h b/include/linux/ipc_namespace.h
index 65327ee0936b314fe38fffee3ffb5f882d8883ac..e81445cc7c5788c1abd7802121efdd43ca3e1410 100644
--- a/include/linux/ipc_namespace.h
+++ b/include/linux/ipc_namespace.h
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include <linux/notifier.h>
 #include <linux/nsproxy.h>
 #include <linux/ns_common.h>
+#include <linux/refcount.h>
 
 struct user_namespace;
 
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ struct ipc_ids {
 };
 
 struct ipc_namespace {
-	atomic_t	count;
+	refcount_t	count;
 	struct ipc_ids	ids[3];
 
 	int		sem_ctls[4];
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ extern struct ipc_namespace *copy_ipcs(unsigned long flags,
 static inline struct ipc_namespace *get_ipc_ns(struct ipc_namespace *ns)
 {
 	if (ns)
-		atomic_inc(&ns->count);
+		refcount_inc(&ns->count);
 	return ns;
 }
 
diff --git a/ipc/msgutil.c b/ipc/msgutil.c
index bf74eaa5c39f208ea5f1ee41db38e57349512e7d..84598025a6ade1faaf412d3ae67e5c2bda32e294 100644
--- a/ipc/msgutil.c
+++ b/ipc/msgutil.c
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ DEFINE_SPINLOCK(mq_lock);
  * and not CONFIG_IPC_NS.
  */
 struct ipc_namespace init_ipc_ns = {
-	.count		= ATOMIC_INIT(1),
+	.count		= REFCOUNT_INIT(1),
 	.user_ns = &init_user_ns,
 	.ns.inum = PROC_IPC_INIT_INO,
 #ifdef CONFIG_IPC_NS
diff --git a/ipc/namespace.c b/ipc/namespace.c
index b4d80f9f7246732e7ca749db7a1f2e33e105531a..7af6e6b883b9c21edd1782008c1c209d55151f18 100644
--- a/ipc/namespace.c
+++ b/ipc/namespace.c
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ static struct ipc_namespace *create_ipc_ns(struct user_namespace *user_ns,
 		goto fail_free;
 	ns->ns.ops = &ipcns_operations;
 
-	atomic_set(&ns->count, 1);
+	refcount_set(&ns->count, 1);
 	ns->user_ns = get_user_ns(user_ns);
 	ns->ucounts = ucounts;
 
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ static void free_ipc_ns(struct ipc_namespace *ns)
  */
 void put_ipc_ns(struct ipc_namespace *ns)
 {
-	if (atomic_dec_and_lock(&ns->count, &mq_lock)) {
+	if (refcount_dec_and_lock(&ns->count, &mq_lock)) {
 		mq_clear_sbinfo(ns);
 		spin_unlock(&mq_lock);
 		mq_put_mnt(ns);