diff --git a/block/blktrace.c b/block/blktrace.c
index 562ca7c..74e02c0 100644
--- a/block/blktrace.c
+++ b/block/blktrace.c
@@ -31,26 +31,24 @@
 /*
  * Send out a notify message.
  */
-static inline unsigned int trace_note(struct blk_trace *bt,
-		pid_t pid, int action,
-		const void *data, size_t len)
+static void trace_note(struct blk_trace *bt, pid_t pid, int action,
+		       const void *data, size_t len)
 {
 	struct blk_io_trace *t;
-	int cpu = smp_processor_id();
 
 	t = relay_reserve(bt->rchan, sizeof(*t) + len);
-	if (t == NULL)
-		return 0;
+	if (t) {
+		const int cpu = smp_processor_id();
 
-	t->magic = BLK_IO_TRACE_MAGIC | BLK_IO_TRACE_VERSION;
-	t->time = sched_clock() - per_cpu(blk_trace_cpu_offset, cpu);
-	t->device = bt->dev;
-	t->action = action;
-	t->pid = pid;
-	t->cpu = cpu;
-	t->pdu_len = len;
-	memcpy((void *) t + sizeof(*t), data, len);
-	return blktrace_seq;
+		t->magic = BLK_IO_TRACE_MAGIC | BLK_IO_TRACE_VERSION;
+		t->time = sched_clock() - per_cpu(blk_trace_cpu_offset, cpu);
+		t->device = bt->dev;
+		t->action = action;
+		t->pid = pid;
+		t->cpu = cpu;
+		t->pdu_len = len;
+		memcpy((void *) t + sizeof(*t), data, len);
+	}
 }
 
 /*
@@ -59,9 +57,8 @@
  */
 static void trace_note_tsk(struct blk_trace *bt, struct task_struct *tsk)
 {
-	tsk->btrace_seq = trace_note(bt, tsk->pid,
-			BLK_TN_PROCESS,
-			tsk->comm, sizeof(tsk->comm));
+	tsk->btrace_seq = blktrace_seq;
+	trace_note(bt, tsk->pid, BLK_TN_PROCESS, tsk->comm, sizeof(tsk->comm));
 }
 
 static void trace_note_time(struct blk_trace *bt)