diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/sw/rdmavt/qp.c b/drivers/infiniband/sw/rdmavt/qp.c
index d04f4fe..41ba7e9 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/sw/rdmavt/qp.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/sw/rdmavt/qp.c
@@ -699,8 +699,10 @@
 		 * initialization that is needed.
 		 */
 		priv = rdi->driver_f.qp_priv_alloc(rdi, qp, gfp);
-		if (!priv)
+		if (IS_ERR(priv)) {
+			ret = priv;
 			goto bail_qp;
+		}
 		qp->priv = priv;
 		qp->timeout_jiffies =
 			usecs_to_jiffies((4096UL * (1UL << qp->timeout)) /
diff --git a/include/rdma/rdma_vt.h b/include/rdma/rdma_vt.h
index 16274e2..9c9a27d 100644
--- a/include/rdma/rdma_vt.h
+++ b/include/rdma/rdma_vt.h
@@ -203,7 +203,9 @@
 
 	/*
 	 * Allocate a private queue pair data structure for driver specific
-	 * information which is opaque to rdmavt.
+	 * information which is opaque to rdmavt.  Errors are returned via
+	 * ERR_PTR(err).  The driver is free to return NULL or a valid
+	 * pointer.
 	 */
 	void * (*qp_priv_alloc)(struct rvt_dev_info *rdi, struct rvt_qp *qp,
 				gfp_t gfp);