diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-kcopyd.c b/drivers/md/dm-kcopyd.c
index 579647f8b4d23a478ae9201d9486d124232f0527..819e37eaaeba17cc3acf8009432f7b99f3dea4dd 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-kcopyd.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-kcopyd.c
@@ -637,14 +637,14 @@ int kcopyd_cancel(struct kcopyd_job *job, int block)
 /*-----------------------------------------------------------------
  * Client setup
  *---------------------------------------------------------------*/
-int dm_kcopyd_client_create(struct dm_kcopyd_client **result)
+struct dm_kcopyd_client *dm_kcopyd_client_create(void)
 {
 	int r = -ENOMEM;
 	struct dm_kcopyd_client *kc;
 
 	kc = kmalloc(sizeof(*kc), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!kc)
-		return -ENOMEM;
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 
 	spin_lock_init(&kc->job_lock);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&kc->complete_jobs);
@@ -676,8 +676,7 @@ int dm_kcopyd_client_create(struct dm_kcopyd_client **result)
 	init_waitqueue_head(&kc->destroyq);
 	atomic_set(&kc->nr_jobs, 0);
 
-	*result = kc;
-	return 0;
+	return kc;
 
 bad_io_client:
 	client_free_pages(kc);
@@ -688,7 +687,7 @@ int dm_kcopyd_client_create(struct dm_kcopyd_client **result)
 bad_slab:
 	kfree(kc);
 
-	return r;
+	return ERR_PTR(r);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(dm_kcopyd_client_create);
 
diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-raid1.c b/drivers/md/dm-raid1.c
index 9defad0454181ed8c80abcf8681e6479da4ea74e..9bfd057be6869dff2aba03a498b20e1c148ba4c8 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-raid1.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-raid1.c
@@ -1115,9 +1115,11 @@ static int mirror_ctr(struct dm_target *ti, unsigned int argc, char **argv)
 		goto err_destroy_wq;
 	}
 
-	r = dm_kcopyd_client_create(&ms->kcopyd_client);
-	if (r)
+	ms->kcopyd_client = dm_kcopyd_client_create();
+	if (IS_ERR(ms->kcopyd_client)) {
+		r = PTR_ERR(ms->kcopyd_client);
 		goto err_destroy_wq;
+	}
 
 	wakeup_mirrord(ms);
 	return 0;
diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-snap.c b/drivers/md/dm-snap.c
index 5a2296de84a3d900db6e176a8ac049cbd5ee04f6..9ecff5f3023a4c4f0721b958ef1541e762e910ff 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-snap.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-snap.c
@@ -1111,8 +1111,9 @@ static int snapshot_ctr(struct dm_target *ti, unsigned int argc, char **argv)
 		goto bad_hash_tables;
 	}
 
-	r = dm_kcopyd_client_create(&s->kcopyd_client);
-	if (r) {
+	s->kcopyd_client = dm_kcopyd_client_create();
+	if (IS_ERR(s->kcopyd_client)) {
+		r = PTR_ERR(s->kcopyd_client);
 		ti->error = "Could not create kcopyd client";
 		goto bad_kcopyd;
 	}
diff --git a/include/linux/dm-kcopyd.h b/include/linux/dm-kcopyd.h
index 312513d4741a706cdf2377069e1f98c5fdd225fd..298d587e349b17169ad1a295645f66e307f42ff4 100644
--- a/include/linux/dm-kcopyd.h
+++ b/include/linux/dm-kcopyd.h
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
  * To use kcopyd you must first create a dm_kcopyd_client object.
  */
 struct dm_kcopyd_client;
-int dm_kcopyd_client_create(struct dm_kcopyd_client **result);
+struct dm_kcopyd_client *dm_kcopyd_client_create(void);
 void dm_kcopyd_client_destroy(struct dm_kcopyd_client *kc);
 
 /*