diff --git a/arch/powerpc/sysdev/ipic.c b/arch/powerpc/sysdev/ipic.c
index 522aa14e8f0d195057dadf8b40e84cafa63151fe..473c415e9e253bfd5a911274c5a5b42a90780929 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/sysdev/ipic.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/sysdev/ipic.c
@@ -557,8 +557,7 @@ static struct irq_host_ops ipic_host_ops = {
 	.xlate	= ipic_host_xlate,
 };
 
-void __init ipic_init(struct device_node *node,
-		unsigned int flags)
+struct ipic * __init ipic_init(struct device_node *node, unsigned int flags)
 {
 	struct ipic	*ipic;
 	struct resource res;
@@ -566,7 +565,7 @@ void __init ipic_init(struct device_node *node,
 
 	ipic = alloc_bootmem(sizeof(struct ipic));
 	if (ipic == NULL)
-		return;
+		return NULL;
 
 	memset(ipic, 0, sizeof(struct ipic));
 	ipic->of_node = of_node_get(node);
@@ -576,12 +575,14 @@ void __init ipic_init(struct device_node *node,
 				       &ipic_host_ops, 0);
 	if (ipic->irqhost == NULL) {
 		of_node_put(node);
-		return;
+		return NULL;
 	}
 
 	ret = of_address_to_resource(node, 0, &res);
-	if (ret)
-		return;
+	if (ret) {
+		of_node_put(node);
+		return NULL;
+	}
 
 	ipic->regs = ioremap(res.start, res.end - res.start + 1);
 
@@ -625,6 +626,8 @@ void __init ipic_init(struct device_node *node,
 
 	printk ("IPIC (%d IRQ sources) at %p\n", NR_IPIC_INTS,
 			primary_ipic->regs);
+
+	return ipic;
 }
 
 int ipic_set_priority(unsigned int virq, unsigned int priority)
diff --git a/include/asm-powerpc/ipic.h b/include/asm-powerpc/ipic.h
index 9fbb034158608d2eb67397d1299ccd6df816f4c8..edec79dcb7c17b226ddb72814bd6005f52a616bb 100644
--- a/include/asm-powerpc/ipic.h
+++ b/include/asm-powerpc/ipic.h
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ extern u32 ipic_get_mcp_status(void);
 extern void ipic_clear_mcp_status(u32 mask);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_PPC_MERGE
-extern void ipic_init(struct device_node *node, unsigned int flags);
+extern struct ipic * ipic_init(struct device_node *node, unsigned int flags);
 extern unsigned int ipic_get_irq(void);
 #else
 extern void ipic_init(phys_addr_t phys_addr, unsigned int flags,