diff --git a/fs/gfs2/incore.h b/fs/gfs2/incore.h
index 6f6ff8aba99a..764fbb49efc8 100644
--- a/fs/gfs2/incore.h
+++ b/fs/gfs2/incore.h
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ struct gfs2_sb_host {
  */
 
 struct lm_lockstruct {
-	unsigned int ls_jid;
+	int ls_jid;
 	unsigned int ls_first;
 	unsigned int ls_first_done;
 	unsigned int ls_nodir;
diff --git a/fs/gfs2/ops_fstype.c b/fs/gfs2/ops_fstype.c
index 5b11f3768144..aeafc233dc89 100644
--- a/fs/gfs2/ops_fstype.c
+++ b/fs/gfs2/ops_fstype.c
@@ -1056,8 +1056,6 @@ static int gfs2_journalid_wait(void *word)
 
 static int wait_on_journal(struct gfs2_sbd *sdp)
 {
-	if (sdp->sd_args.ar_spectator)
-		return 0;
 	if (sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_ops->lm_mount == NULL)
 		return 0;
 
@@ -1160,6 +1158,20 @@ static int fill_super(struct super_block *sb, struct gfs2_args *args, int silent
 	if (error)
 		goto fail_sb;
 
+	/*
+	 * If user space has failed to join the cluster or some similar
+	 * failure has occurred, then the journal id will contain a
+	 * negative (error) number. This will then be returned to the
+	 * caller (of the mount syscall). We do this even for spectator
+	 * mounts (which just write a jid of 0 to indicate "ok" even though
+	 * the jid is unused in the spectator case)
+	 */
+	if (sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_jid < 0) {
+		error = sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_jid;
+		sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_jid = 0;
+		goto fail_sb;
+	}
+
 	error = init_inodes(sdp, DO);
 	if (error)
 		goto fail_sb;
diff --git a/fs/gfs2/sys.c b/fs/gfs2/sys.c
index ccacffd2faaa..64082a5feae1 100644
--- a/fs/gfs2/sys.c
+++ b/fs/gfs2/sys.c
@@ -399,31 +399,32 @@ static ssize_t recover_status_show(struct gfs2_sbd *sdp, char *buf)
 
 static ssize_t jid_show(struct gfs2_sbd *sdp, char *buf)
 {
-	return sprintf(buf, "%u\n", sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_jid);
+	return sprintf(buf, "%d\n", sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_jid);
 }
 
 static ssize_t jid_store(struct gfs2_sbd *sdp, const char *buf, size_t len)
 {
-        unsigned jid;
+        int jid;
 	int rv;
 
-	rv = sscanf(buf, "%u", &jid);
+	rv = sscanf(buf, "%d", &jid);
 	if (rv != 1)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	spin_lock(&sdp->sd_jindex_spin);
 	rv = -EINVAL;
-	if (sdp->sd_args.ar_spectator)
-		goto out;
 	if (sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_ops->lm_mount == NULL)
 		goto out;
 	rv = -EBUSY;
-	if (test_and_clear_bit(SDF_NOJOURNALID, &sdp->sd_flags) == 0)
+	if (test_bit(SDF_NOJOURNALID, &sdp->sd_flags) == 0)
 		goto out;
+	rv = 0;
+	if (sdp->sd_args.ar_spectator && jid > 0)
+		rv = jid = -EINVAL;
 	sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_jid = jid;
+	clear_bit(SDF_NOJOURNALID, &sdp->sd_flags);
 	smp_mb__after_clear_bit();
 	wake_up_bit(&sdp->sd_flags, SDF_NOJOURNALID);
-	rv = 0;
 out:
 	spin_unlock(&sdp->sd_jindex_spin);
 	return rv ? rv : len;
@@ -617,7 +618,7 @@ static int gfs2_uevent(struct kset *kset, struct kobject *kobj,
 	add_uevent_var(env, "LOCKTABLE=%s", sdp->sd_table_name);
 	add_uevent_var(env, "LOCKPROTO=%s", sdp->sd_proto_name);
 	if (!test_bit(SDF_NOJOURNALID, &sdp->sd_flags))
-		add_uevent_var(env, "JOURNALID=%u", sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_jid);
+		add_uevent_var(env, "JOURNALID=%d", sdp->sd_lockstruct.ls_jid);
 	if (gfs2_uuid_valid(uuid))
 		add_uevent_var(env, "UUID=%pUB", uuid);
 	return 0;