diff --git a/include/spdk/event.h b/include/spdk/event.h
index af3e3d13b..7bcbea3b3 100644
--- a/include/spdk/event.h
+++ b/include/spdk/event.h
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ void spdk_app_init(struct spdk_app_opts *opts);
 /**
  * \brief Perform final shutdown operations on an application using the event framework.
 */
-void spdk_app_fini(void);
+int spdk_app_fini(void);
 
 /**
  * \brief Start the framework. Once started, the framework will call start_fn on the master
diff --git a/lib/event/app.c b/lib/event/app.c
index 3c3ab151c..bab54527c 100644
--- a/lib/event/app.c
+++ b/lib/event/app.c
@@ -405,14 +405,18 @@ spdk_app_init(struct spdk_app_opts *opts)
 	}
 }
 
-void
+int
 spdk_app_fini(void)
 {
-	spdk_subsystem_fini();
+	int rc;
+
+	rc = spdk_subsystem_fini();
 	spdk_trace_cleanup();
 	spdk_app_remove_pidfile();
 	spdk_conf_free(g_spdk_app.config);
 	spdk_close_log();
+
+	return rc;
 }
 
 int