diff --git a/doc/bdev.md b/doc/bdev.md
index 2cc6104f1..b558e10ed 100644
--- a/doc/bdev.md
+++ b/doc/bdev.md
@@ -102,14 +102,6 @@ the data and show table containing IO count for latency ranges.
 
 The command will disable histogram on Nvme0n1 device.
 
-## delete_bdev {#bdev_ug_delete_bdev}
-
-To remove previously created bdev user can use `delete_bdev` RPC command.
-Bdev can be deleted at any time and this will be fully handled by any upper
-layers. As an argument user should provide bdev name. This RPC command
-should be used only for debugging purpose. To remove a particular bdev please
-use the delete command specific to its bdev module.
-
 # Ceph RBD {#bdev_config_rbd}
 
 The SPDK RBD bdev driver provides SPDK block layer access to Ceph RADOS block
diff --git a/doc/jsonrpc.md b/doc/jsonrpc.md
index 2e961a8d2..fabb4b4e6 100644
--- a/doc/jsonrpc.md
+++ b/doc/jsonrpc.md
@@ -713,7 +713,9 @@ Note that histogram field is trimmed, actual encoded histogram length is ~80kb.
 
 ## delete_bdev {#rpc_delete_bdev}
 
-Unregister a block device.
+Unregister a block device.  This RPC is deprecated.  Users should instead use
+the specific deletion RPC for the bdev type to be removed (i.e.
+delete_malloc_bdev).
 
 ### Parameters
 
diff --git a/lib/bdev/rpc/bdev_rpc.c b/lib/bdev/rpc/bdev_rpc.c
index 5e645e20f..3cf1b48b0 100644
--- a/lib/bdev/rpc/bdev_rpc.c
+++ b/lib/bdev/rpc/bdev_rpc.c
@@ -405,6 +405,9 @@ spdk_rpc_delete_bdev(struct spdk_jsonrpc_request *request,
 	struct rpc_delete_bdev req = {};
 	struct spdk_bdev *bdev;
 
+	SPDK_ERRLOG("The delete_bdev RPC is deprecated.  Please use the RPC specific\n");
+	SPDK_ERRLOG("to the bdev type being deleted.\n");
+
 	if (spdk_json_decode_object(params, rpc_delete_bdev_decoders,
 				    SPDK_COUNTOF(rpc_delete_bdev_decoders),
 				    &req)) {