diff --git a/fs/exec.c b/fs/exec.c
index 282240afe99e5e223b1732c4c1b58245d90618d8..966c5c5b6741a25af7c3708fdd3e50e5434d710b 100644
--- a/fs/exec.c
+++ b/fs/exec.c
@@ -947,12 +947,13 @@ static void flush_old_files(struct files_struct * files)
 	spin_unlock(&files->file_lock);
 }
 
-void get_task_comm(char *buf, struct task_struct *tsk)
+char *get_task_comm(char *buf, struct task_struct *tsk)
 {
 	/* buf must be at least sizeof(tsk->comm) in size */
 	task_lock(tsk);
 	strncpy(buf, tsk->comm, sizeof(tsk->comm));
 	task_unlock(tsk);
+	return buf;
 }
 
 void set_task_comm(struct task_struct *tsk, char *buf)
diff --git a/include/linux/sched.h b/include/linux/sched.h
index af6947e69b40cb2c9cce3ba291bca296ccb5edd7..680bb03a4b9098d07f03afad76ef3b797f0487a2 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched.h
@@ -1770,7 +1770,7 @@ extern long do_fork(unsigned long, unsigned long, struct pt_regs *, unsigned lon
 struct task_struct *fork_idle(int);
 
 extern void set_task_comm(struct task_struct *tsk, char *from);
-extern void get_task_comm(char *to, struct task_struct *tsk);
+extern char *get_task_comm(char *to, struct task_struct *tsk);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_SMP
 extern void wait_task_inactive(struct task_struct * p);