diff --git a/Documentation/coccinelle.txt b/Documentation/coccinelle.txt
index 7f773d51fdd9..bb9632c20cfb 100644
--- a/Documentation/coccinelle.txt
+++ b/Documentation/coccinelle.txt
@@ -146,7 +146,8 @@ MODE variable explained above.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 Additional flags can be passed to spatch through the SPFLAGS
-variable.
+variable. This works as Coccinelle respects the last flags
+given to it when options are in conflict.
 
     make SPFLAGS=--use-glimpse coccicheck
     make SPFLAGS=--use-idutils coccicheck
diff --git a/scripts/coccicheck b/scripts/coccicheck
index f137b04dfdd3..5319fae910b4 100755
--- a/scripts/coccicheck
+++ b/scripts/coccicheck
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ else
 	NPROC="$J"
 fi
 
-FLAGS="--very-quiet $SPFLAGS"
+FLAGS="--very-quiet"
 
 # spatch only allows include directories with the syntax "-I include"
 # while gcc also allows "-Iinclude" and "-include include"
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ kill_running() {
 	done
 }
 
+# You can override heuristics with SPFLAGS, these must always go last
+OPTIONS="$OPTIONS $SPFLAGS"
+
 coccinelle () {
     COCCI="$1"