diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/en_netdev.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/en_netdev.c
index 6bf4ea400643..f9056192e81c 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/en_netdev.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/en_netdev.c
@@ -1535,17 +1535,13 @@ static int mlx4_en_init_affinity_hint(struct mlx4_en_priv *priv, int ring_idx)
 {
 	struct mlx4_en_rx_ring *ring = priv->rx_ring[ring_idx];
 	int numa_node = priv->mdev->dev->numa_node;
-	int ret = 0;
 
 	if (!zalloc_cpumask_var(&ring->affinity_mask, GFP_KERNEL))
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
-	ret = cpumask_set_cpu_local_first(ring_idx, numa_node,
-					  ring->affinity_mask);
-	if (ret)
-		free_cpumask_var(ring->affinity_mask);
-
-	return ret;
+	cpumask_set_cpu(cpumask_local_spread(ring_idx, numa_node),
+			ring->affinity_mask);
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static void mlx4_en_free_affinity_hint(struct mlx4_en_priv *priv, int ring_idx)
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/en_tx.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/en_tx.c
index c5be6d890e94..a3d86e31f34c 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/en_tx.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/en_tx.c
@@ -133,9 +133,9 @@ int mlx4_en_create_tx_ring(struct mlx4_en_priv *priv,
 	ring->queue_index = queue_index;
 
 	if (queue_index < priv->num_tx_rings_p_up)
-		cpumask_set_cpu_local_first(queue_index,
-					    priv->mdev->dev->numa_node,
-					    &ring->affinity_mask);
+		cpumask_set_cpu(cpumask_local_spread(queue_index,
+						     priv->mdev->dev->numa_node),
+				&ring->affinity_mask);
 
 	*pring = ring;
 	return 0;
diff --git a/include/linux/cpumask.h b/include/linux/cpumask.h
index 2997af6d2ccd..f7a172e31aec 100644
--- a/include/linux/cpumask.h
+++ b/include/linux/cpumask.h
@@ -142,10 +142,8 @@ static inline unsigned int cpumask_any_but(const struct cpumask *mask,
 	return 1;
 }
 
-static inline int cpumask_set_cpu_local_first(int i, int numa_node, cpumask_t *dstp)
+static inline unsigned int cpumask_local_spread(unsigned int i, int node)
 {
-	set_bit(0, cpumask_bits(dstp));
-
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -199,7 +197,7 @@ static inline unsigned int cpumask_next_zero(int n, const struct cpumask *srcp)
 
 int cpumask_next_and(int n, const struct cpumask *, const struct cpumask *);
 int cpumask_any_but(const struct cpumask *mask, unsigned int cpu);
-int cpumask_set_cpu_local_first(int i, int numa_node, cpumask_t *dstp);
+unsigned int cpumask_local_spread(unsigned int i, int node);
 
 /**
  * for_each_cpu - iterate over every cpu in a mask
diff --git a/lib/cpumask.c b/lib/cpumask.c
index b6513a9f2892..c0bd0df01e3d 100644
--- a/lib/cpumask.c
+++ b/lib/cpumask.c
@@ -166,64 +166,42 @@ void __init free_bootmem_cpumask_var(cpumask_var_t mask)
 #endif
 
 /**
- * cpumask_set_cpu_local_first - set i'th cpu with local numa cpu's first
- *
+ * cpumask_local_spread - select the i'th cpu with local numa cpu's first
  * @i: index number
- * @numa_node: local numa_node
- * @dstp: cpumask with the relevant cpu bit set according to the policy
+ * @node: local numa_node
  *
- * This function sets the cpumask according to a numa aware policy.
- * cpumask could be used as an affinity hint for the IRQ related to a
- * queue. When the policy is to spread queues across cores - local cores
- * first.
+ * This function selects an online CPU according to a numa aware policy;
+ * local cpus are returned first, followed by non-local ones, then it
+ * wraps around.
  *
- * Returns 0 on success, -ENOMEM for no memory, and -EAGAIN when failed to set
- * the cpu bit and need to re-call the function.
+ * It's not very efficient, but useful for setup.
  */
-int cpumask_set_cpu_local_first(int i, int numa_node, cpumask_t *dstp)
+unsigned int cpumask_local_spread(unsigned int i, int node)
 {
-	cpumask_var_t mask;
 	int cpu;
-	int ret = 0;
-
-	if (!zalloc_cpumask_var(&mask, GFP_KERNEL))
-		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	/* Wrap: we always want a cpu. */
 	i %= num_online_cpus();
 
-	if (numa_node == -1 || !cpumask_of_node(numa_node)) {
-		/* Use all online cpu's for non numa aware system */
-		cpumask_copy(mask, cpu_online_mask);
+	if (node == -1) {
+		for_each_cpu(cpu, cpu_online_mask)
+			if (i-- == 0)
+				return cpu;
 	} else {
-		int n;
-
-		cpumask_and(mask,
-			    cpumask_of_node(numa_node), cpu_online_mask);
-
-		n = cpumask_weight(mask);
-		if (i >= n) {
-			i -= n;
-
-			/* If index > number of local cpu's, mask out local
-			 * cpu's
-			 */
-			cpumask_andnot(mask, cpu_online_mask, mask);
+		/* NUMA first. */
+		for_each_cpu_and(cpu, cpumask_of_node(node), cpu_online_mask)
+			if (i-- == 0)
+				return cpu;
+
+		for_each_cpu(cpu, cpu_online_mask) {
+			/* Skip NUMA nodes, done above. */
+			if (cpumask_test_cpu(cpu, cpumask_of_node(node)))
+				continue;
+
+			if (i-- == 0)
+				return cpu;
 		}
 	}
-
-	for_each_cpu(cpu, mask) {
-		if (--i < 0)
-			goto out;
-	}
-
-	ret = -EAGAIN;
-
-out:
-	free_cpumask_var(mask);
-
-	if (!ret)
-		cpumask_set_cpu(cpu, dstp);
-
-	return ret;
+	BUG();
 }
-EXPORT_SYMBOL(cpumask_set_cpu_local_first);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(cpumask_local_spread);
