diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/powerpc/benchmarks/context_switch.c b/tools/testing/selftests/powerpc/benchmarks/context_switch.c
index f4241339edd2..87f1f0252299 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/powerpc/benchmarks/context_switch.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/powerpc/benchmarks/context_switch.c
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
  */
 
 #define _GNU_SOURCE
+#include <errno.h>
 #include <sched.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ static void touch(void)
 
 static void start_thread_on(void *(*fn)(void *), void *arg, unsigned long cpu)
 {
+	int rc;
 	pthread_t tid;
 	cpu_set_t cpuset;
 	pthread_attr_t attr;
@@ -82,14 +84,23 @@ static void start_thread_on(void *(*fn)(void *), void *arg, unsigned long cpu)
 	CPU_ZERO(&cpuset);
 	CPU_SET(cpu, &cpuset);
 
-	pthread_attr_init(&attr);
+	rc = pthread_attr_init(&attr);
+	if (rc) {
+		errno = rc;
+		perror("pthread_attr_init");
+		exit(1);
+	}
 
-	if (pthread_attr_setaffinity_np(&attr, sizeof(cpu_set_t), &cpuset)) {
+	rc = pthread_attr_setaffinity_np(&attr, sizeof(cpu_set_t), &cpuset);
+	if (rc)	{
+		errno = rc;
 		perror("pthread_attr_setaffinity_np");
 		exit(1);
 	}
 
-	if (pthread_create(&tid, &attr, fn, arg)) {
+	rc = pthread_create(&tid, &attr, fn, arg);
+	if (rc) {
+		errno = rc;
 		perror("pthread_create");
 		exit(1);
 	}