diff --git a/docs/design/firmware-design.rst b/docs/design/firmware-design.rst
index cf8cbc7..1306ecb 100644
--- a/docs/design/firmware-design.rst
+++ b/docs/design/firmware-design.rst
@@ -2599,6 +2599,9 @@
 section section can be reclaimed for any data which is accessed after cold
 boot initialization and it is upto the platform to make the decision.
 
+Please note that this will disable inlining for any functions with the __init
+attribute.
+
 .. _firmware_design_pmf:
 
 Performance Measurement Framework
diff --git a/include/lib/libc/cdefs.h b/include/lib/libc/cdefs.h
index 97b7824..5febe9d 100644
--- a/include/lib/libc/cdefs.h
+++ b/include/lib/libc/cdefs.h
@@ -16,12 +16,19 @@
 #define __aligned(x)	__attribute__((__aligned__(x)))
 #define __section(x)	__attribute__((__section__(x)))
 #define __fallthrough	__attribute__((__fallthrough__))
+#define __noinline	__attribute__((__noinline__))
 #if RECLAIM_INIT_CODE
 /*
  * Add each function to a section that is unique so the functions can still
- * be garbage collected
+ * be garbage collected.
+ *
+ * NOTICE: for this to work, these functions will NOT be inlined.
+ * TODO: the noinline attribute can be removed if RECLAIM_INIT_CODE is made
+ * platform agnostic and called after bl31_main(). Then, top-level functions
+ * (those that can't be inlined like bl31_main()) can be annotated with __init
+ * and noinline can be removed.
  */
-#define __init		__section(".text.init." __FILE__ "." __XSTRING(__LINE__))
+#define __init		__section(".text.init." __FILE__ "." __XSTRING(__LINE__)) __noinline
 #else
 #define __init
 #endif