diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 812af52f97d2cf..4aa09e0cb86a39 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -4695,12 +4695,12 @@ sub process {
 			}
 		}
 
-# avoid BUG() or BUG_ON()
-		if ($line =~ /\b(?:BUG|BUG_ON)\b/) {
+# do not use BUG() or variants
+		if ($line =~ /\b(?!AA_|BUILD_|DCCP_|IDA_|KVM_|RWLOCK_|snd_|SPIN_)(?:[a-zA-Z_]*_)?BUG(?:_ON)?(?:_[A-Z_]+)?\s*\(/) {
 			my $msg_level = \&WARN;
 			$msg_level = \&CHK if ($file);
 			&{$msg_level}("AVOID_BUG",
-				      "Avoid crashing the kernel - try using WARN_ON & recovery code rather than BUG() or BUG_ON()\n" . $herecurr);
+				      "Do not crash the kernel unless it is absolutely unavoidable--use WARN_ON_ONCE() plus recovery code (if feasible) instead of BUG() or variants\n" . $herecurr);
 		}
 
 # avoid LINUX_VERSION_CODE