diff --git a/config/kernel-current-time.m4 b/config/kernel-current-time.m4
index 3ceb5f63efa9..ab7d9c5cedba 100644
--- a/config/kernel-current-time.m4
+++ b/config/kernel-current-time.m4
@@ -1,23 +1,26 @@
 dnl #
 dnl # 4.9, current_time() added
 dnl # 4.18, return type changed from timespec to timespec64
 dnl #
+dnl # Note that we don't care about the return type in this check. If we have
+dnl # to implement a fallback, we'll know we're <4.9, which was timespec.
+dnl #
 AC_DEFUN([ZFS_AC_KERNEL_SRC_CURRENT_TIME], [
 	ZFS_LINUX_TEST_SRC([current_time], [
 		#include <linux/fs.h>
 	], [
 		struct inode ip __attribute__ ((unused));
-		ip.i_atime = current_time(&ip);
+		(void) current_time(&ip);
 	])
 ])
 
 AC_DEFUN([ZFS_AC_KERNEL_CURRENT_TIME], [
 	AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether current_time() exists])
 	ZFS_LINUX_TEST_RESULT_SYMBOL([current_time],
 	    [current_time], [fs/inode.c], [
 		AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
 		AC_DEFINE(HAVE_CURRENT_TIME, 1, [current_time() exists])
 	], [
 		AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
 	])
 ])