diff --git a/drivers/dma/sf-pdma/sf-pdma.c b/drivers/dma/sf-pdma/sf-pdma.c
index f12606aeff87c9..db5a4ef7607734 100644
--- a/drivers/dma/sf-pdma/sf-pdma.c
+++ b/drivers/dma/sf-pdma/sf-pdma.c
@@ -482,23 +482,30 @@ static void sf_pdma_setup_chans(struct sf_pdma *pdma)
 static int sf_pdma_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
 {
 	struct sf_pdma *pdma;
-	struct sf_pdma_chan *chan;
 	struct resource *res;
-	int len, chans;
-	int ret;
+	int ret, n_chans;
 	const enum dma_slave_buswidth widths =
 		DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_1_BYTE | DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_2_BYTES |
 		DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_4_BYTES | DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_8_BYTES |
 		DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_16_BYTES | DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_32_BYTES |
 		DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_64_BYTES;
 
-	chans = PDMA_NR_CH;
-	len = sizeof(*pdma) + sizeof(*chan) * chans;
-	pdma = devm_kzalloc(&pdev->dev, len, GFP_KERNEL);
+	ret = of_property_read_u32(pdev->dev.of_node, "dma-channels", &n_chans);
+	if (ret) {
+		/* backwards-compatibility for no dma-channels property */
+		dev_dbg(&pdev->dev, "set number of channels to default value: 4\n");
+		n_chans = PDMA_MAX_NR_CH;
+	} else if (n_chans > PDMA_MAX_NR_CH) {
+		dev_err(&pdev->dev, "the number of channels exceeds the maximum\n");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
+	pdma = devm_kzalloc(&pdev->dev, struct_size(pdma, chans, n_chans),
+			    GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!pdma)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
-	pdma->n_chans = chans;
+	pdma->n_chans = n_chans;
 
 	res = platform_get_resource(pdev, IORESOURCE_MEM, 0);
 	pdma->membase = devm_ioremap_resource(&pdev->dev, res);
@@ -556,7 +563,7 @@ static int sf_pdma_remove(struct platform_device *pdev)
 	struct sf_pdma_chan *ch;
 	int i;
 
-	for (i = 0; i < PDMA_NR_CH; i++) {
+	for (i = 0; i < pdma->n_chans; i++) {
 		ch = &pdma->chans[i];
 
 		devm_free_irq(&pdev->dev, ch->txirq, ch);
@@ -574,6 +581,7 @@ static int sf_pdma_remove(struct platform_device *pdev)
 
 static const struct of_device_id sf_pdma_dt_ids[] = {
 	{ .compatible = "sifive,fu540-c000-pdma" },
+	{ .compatible = "sifive,pdma0" },
 	{},
 };
 MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(of, sf_pdma_dt_ids);
diff --git a/drivers/dma/sf-pdma/sf-pdma.h b/drivers/dma/sf-pdma/sf-pdma.h
index 0c20167b097d0e..dcb3687bd5da26 100644
--- a/drivers/dma/sf-pdma/sf-pdma.h
+++ b/drivers/dma/sf-pdma/sf-pdma.h
@@ -22,11 +22,7 @@
 #include "../dmaengine.h"
 #include "../virt-dma.h"
 
-#define PDMA_NR_CH					4
-
-#if (PDMA_NR_CH != 4)
-#error "Please define PDMA_NR_CH to 4"
-#endif
+#define PDMA_MAX_NR_CH					4
 
 #define PDMA_BASE_ADDR					0x3000000
 #define PDMA_CHAN_OFFSET				0x1000
@@ -118,7 +114,7 @@ struct sf_pdma {
 	void __iomem            *membase;
 	void __iomem            *mappedbase;
 	u32			n_chans;
-	struct sf_pdma_chan	chans[PDMA_NR_CH];
+	struct sf_pdma_chan	chans[];
 };
 
 #endif /* _SF_PDMA_H */