diff --git a/fs/jbd2/transaction.c b/fs/jbd2/transaction.c
index 20065c9f2479..9dfdf010f1df 100644
--- a/fs/jbd2/transaction.c
+++ b/fs/jbd2/transaction.c
@@ -316,7 +316,8 @@ static handle_t *new_handle(int nblocks)
  * This function is visible to journal users (like ext3fs), so is not
  * called with the journal already locked.
  *
- * Return a pointer to a newly allocated handle, or NULL on failure
+ * Return a pointer to a newly allocated handle, or an ERR_PTR() value
+ * on failure.
  */
 handle_t *jbd2__journal_start(journal_t *journal, int nblocks, int gfp_mask)
 {