diff --git a/fs/jbd/transaction.c b/fs/jbd/transaction.c
index 60d2319651b2..f7ee81a065da 100644
--- a/fs/jbd/transaction.c
+++ b/fs/jbd/transaction.c
@@ -266,7 +266,8 @@ 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 *journal_start(journal_t *journal, int nblocks)
 {