diff --git a/kernel/time/tick-common.c b/kernel/time/tick-common.c
index 019315ebf9de..b523d095decf 100644
--- a/kernel/time/tick-common.c
+++ b/kernel/time/tick-common.c
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct tick_device, tick_cpu_device);
  */
 ktime_t tick_next_period;
 ktime_t tick_period;
-int tick_do_timer_cpu __read_mostly = -1;
+int tick_do_timer_cpu __read_mostly = TICK_DO_TIMER_BOOT;
 DEFINE_SPINLOCK(tick_device_lock);
 
 /*
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ static void tick_setup_device(struct tick_device *td,
 		 * If no cpu took the do_timer update, assign it to
 		 * this cpu:
 		 */
-		if (tick_do_timer_cpu == -1) {
+		if (tick_do_timer_cpu == TICK_DO_TIMER_BOOT) {
 			tick_do_timer_cpu = cpu;
 			tick_next_period = ktime_get();
 			tick_period = ktime_set(0, NSEC_PER_SEC / HZ);
@@ -300,7 +300,8 @@ static void tick_shutdown(unsigned int *cpup)
 	if (*cpup == tick_do_timer_cpu) {
 		int cpu = first_cpu(cpu_online_map);
 
-		tick_do_timer_cpu = (cpu != NR_CPUS) ? cpu : -1;
+		tick_do_timer_cpu = (cpu != NR_CPUS) ? cpu :
+			TICK_DO_TIMER_NONE;
 	}
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&tick_device_lock, flags);
 }
diff --git a/kernel/time/tick-internal.h b/kernel/time/tick-internal.h
index 6e9db9734aa6..e18014fadf95 100644
--- a/kernel/time/tick-internal.h
+++ b/kernel/time/tick-internal.h
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 /*
  * tick internal variable and functions used by low/high res code
  */
+
+#define TICK_DO_TIMER_NONE	-1
+#define TICK_DO_TIMER_BOOT	-2
+
 DECLARE_PER_CPU(struct tick_device, tick_cpu_device);
 extern spinlock_t tick_device_lock;
 extern ktime_t tick_next_period;
diff --git a/kernel/time/tick-sched.c b/kernel/time/tick-sched.c
index a87b0468568b..31a14e8caac1 100644
--- a/kernel/time/tick-sched.c
+++ b/kernel/time/tick-sched.c
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ void tick_nohz_stop_sched_tick(int inidle)
 	 */
 	if (unlikely(!cpu_online(cpu))) {
 		if (cpu == tick_do_timer_cpu)
-			tick_do_timer_cpu = -1;
+			tick_do_timer_cpu = TICK_DO_TIMER_NONE;
 	}
 
 	if (unlikely(ts->nohz_mode == NOHZ_MODE_INACTIVE))
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ void tick_nohz_stop_sched_tick(int inidle)
 		 * invoked.
 		 */
 		if (cpu == tick_do_timer_cpu)
-			tick_do_timer_cpu = -1;
+			tick_do_timer_cpu = TICK_DO_TIMER_NONE;
 
 		ts->idle_sleeps++;
 
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ static void tick_nohz_handler(struct clock_event_device *dev)
 	 * this duty, then the jiffies update is still serialized by
 	 * xtime_lock.
 	 */
-	if (unlikely(tick_do_timer_cpu == -1))
+	if (unlikely(tick_do_timer_cpu == TICK_DO_TIMER_NONE))
 		tick_do_timer_cpu = cpu;
 
 	/* Check, if the jiffies need an update */
@@ -570,7 +570,7 @@ static enum hrtimer_restart tick_sched_timer(struct hrtimer *timer)
 	 * this duty, then the jiffies update is still serialized by
 	 * xtime_lock.
 	 */
-	if (unlikely(tick_do_timer_cpu == -1))
+	if (unlikely(tick_do_timer_cpu == TICK_DO_TIMER_NONE))
 		tick_do_timer_cpu = cpu;
 #endif