return ret;
 }
 
-static void remove_file(struct dentry *parent, char *name)
+static int remove_file(struct dentry *parent, char *name)
 {
        struct dentry *tmp;
+       int ret;
 
        tmp = lookup_one_len(name, parent, strlen(name));
 
+       if (IS_ERR(tmp)) {
+               ret = PTR_ERR(tmp);
+               goto bail;
+       }
+
        spin_lock(&dcache_lock);
        spin_lock(&tmp->d_lock);
        if (!(d_unhashed(tmp) && tmp->d_inode)) {
                spin_unlock(&tmp->d_lock);
                spin_unlock(&dcache_lock);
        }
+
+       ret = 0;
+bail:
+       /*
+        * We don't expect clients to care about the return value, but
+        * it's there if they need it.
+        */
+       return ret;
 }
 
 static int remove_device_files(struct super_block *sb,