diff --git a/mm/Kconfig b/mm/Kconfig
index 0331f1461f81..3897e924e40f 100644
--- a/mm/Kconfig
+++ b/mm/Kconfig
@@ -579,6 +579,12 @@ config COMPACTION
 	  it and then we would be really interested to hear about that at
 	  linux-mm@kvack.org.
 
+config COMPACT_UNEVICTABLE_DEFAULT
+	int
+	depends on COMPACTION
+	default 0 if PREEMPT_RT
+	default 1
+
 #
 # support for free page reporting
 config PAGE_REPORTING
diff --git a/mm/compaction.c b/mm/compaction.c
index 640fa76228dd..10561cb1aaad 100644
--- a/mm/compaction.c
+++ b/mm/compaction.c
@@ -1727,11 +1727,7 @@ typedef enum {
  * Allow userspace to control policy on scanning the unevictable LRU for
  * compactable pages.
  */
-#ifdef CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT
-int sysctl_compact_unevictable_allowed __read_mostly = 0;
-#else
-int sysctl_compact_unevictable_allowed __read_mostly = 1;
-#endif
+int sysctl_compact_unevictable_allowed __read_mostly = CONFIG_COMPACT_UNEVICTABLE_DEFAULT;
 
 static inline void
 update_fast_start_pfn(struct compact_control *cc, unsigned long pfn)