diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/include/arch/x86/rte_rtm.h b/lib/librte_eal/common/include/arch/x86/rte_rtm.h
index d9356419af..0649f7940d 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/include/arch/x86/rte_rtm.h
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/include/arch/x86/rte_rtm.h
@@ -50,11 +50,10 @@ void rte_xend(void)
 	 asm volatile(".byte 0x0f,0x01,0xd5" ::: "memory");
 }
 
-static __attribute__((__always_inline__)) inline
-void rte_xabort(const unsigned int status)
-{
-	asm volatile(".byte 0xc6,0xf8,%P0" :: "i" (status) : "memory");
-}
+/* not an inline function to workaround a clang bug with -O0 */
+#define rte_xabort(status) do { \
+	asm volatile(".byte 0xc6,0xf8,%P0" :: "i" (status) : "memory"); \
+} while (0)
 
 static __attribute__((__always_inline__)) inline
 int rte_xtest(void)