diff --git a/arch/s390/oprofile/init.c b/arch/s390/oprofile/init.c
index 6efc18b..bd58b72 100644
--- a/arch/s390/oprofile/init.c
+++ b/arch/s390/oprofile/init.c
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	retval = oprofilefs_ulong_from_user(&val, buf, count);
-	if (retval)
+	if (retval <= 0)
 		return retval;
 
 	if (oprofile_started)
diff --git a/drivers/oprofile/oprofile_files.c b/drivers/oprofile/oprofile_files.c
index 89f6345..84a208d 100644
--- a/drivers/oprofile/oprofile_files.c
+++ b/drivers/oprofile/oprofile_files.c
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	retval = oprofilefs_ulong_from_user(&val, buf, count);
-	if (retval)
+	if (retval <= 0)
 		return retval;
 
 	retval = oprofile_set_timeout(val);
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	retval = oprofilefs_ulong_from_user(&val, buf, count);
-	if (retval)
+	if (retval <= 0)
 		return retval;
 
 	retval = oprofile_set_ulong(&oprofile_backtrace_depth, val);
@@ -141,9 +141,10 @@
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	retval = oprofilefs_ulong_from_user(&val, buf, count);
-	if (retval)
+	if (retval <= 0)
 		return retval;
 
+	retval = 0;
 	if (val)
 		retval = oprofile_start();
 	else
diff --git a/drivers/oprofile/oprofilefs.c b/drivers/oprofile/oprofilefs.c
index d0de6cc..2f0aa0f 100644
--- a/drivers/oprofile/oprofilefs.c
+++ b/drivers/oprofile/oprofilefs.c
@@ -60,6 +60,13 @@
 }
 
 
+/*
+ * Note: If oprofilefs_ulong_from_user() returns 0, then *val remains
+ * unchanged and might be uninitialized. This follows write syscall
+ * implementation when count is zero: "If count is zero ... [and if]
+ * no errors are detected, 0 will be returned without causing any
+ * other effect." (man 2 write)
+ */
 int oprofilefs_ulong_from_user(unsigned long *val, char const __user *buf, size_t count)
 {
 	char tmpbuf[TMPBUFSIZE];
@@ -79,7 +86,7 @@
 	raw_spin_lock_irqsave(&oprofilefs_lock, flags);
 	*val = simple_strtoul(tmpbuf, NULL, 0);
 	raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&oprofilefs_lock, flags);
-	return 0;
+	return count;
 }
 
 
@@ -99,7 +106,7 @@
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	retval = oprofilefs_ulong_from_user(&value, buf, count);
-	if (retval)
+	if (retval <= 0)
 		return retval;
 
 	retval = oprofile_set_ulong(file->private_data, value);