diff --git a/commands/simple/tcpstat.c b/commands/simple/tcpstat.c
index 6fa78da65..2d2a8f235 100644
--- a/commands/simple/tcpstat.c
+++ b/commands/simple/tcpstat.c
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ int main(int argc, char*argv[])
 	clock_t now;
 	int fl;
 	int a_flag, n_flag, v_flag;
+	struct tms tmsbuf;
 
 	getsysinfo_up(PM_PROC_NR, SIU_SYSTEMHZ, sizeof(system_hz), &system_hz);
 
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ int main(int argc, char*argv[])
 	}
 	now= uptime.tv_sec * HZ + (uptime.tv_usec*HZ/1000000);
 #else	/* Minix 3 */
-	now= times(NULL);
+	now= times(&tmsbuf);
 #endif
 
 	for (i= 0; i<TCP_CONN_NR; i++)
diff --git a/commands/simple/udpstat.c b/commands/simple/udpstat.c
index 8e4ed8210..b75484ac3 100644
--- a/commands/simple/udpstat.c
+++ b/commands/simple/udpstat.c
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ int main(int argc, char*argv[])
 	clock_t now;
 	int fl;
 	int a_flag, n_flag;
+	struct tms tmsbuf;
 
 	(prog_name=strrchr(argv[0], '/')) ? prog_name++ : (prog_name=argv[0]);
 
@@ -221,7 +222,7 @@ int main(int argc, char*argv[])
 	}
 	now= uptime.tv_sec * HZ + (uptime.tv_usec*HZ/1000000);
 #else	/* Minix 3 */
-	now= times(NULL);
+	now= times(&tmsbuf);
 #endif
 
 	for (i= 0; i<UDP_FD_NR; i++)
diff --git a/man/man2/times.2 b/man/man2/times.2
index da9fc9856..890c25d1e 100644
--- a/man/man2/times.2
+++ b/man/man2/times.2
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ returns time-accounting information
 for the current process
 and for the terminated child processes
 of the current process.
-All times are in 1/CLOCKS_PER_SEC seconds.
+All times are in system clock ticks.
 .PP
 This is the structure returned by
 .BR times :
@@ -51,9 +51,14 @@ of the children's process times and
 their children's times.
 .SH RETURN
 .B Times
-returns 0 on success, otherwise \-1 with the error code stored into the
+returns the number of system clock ticks since boot time on success,
+otherwise \-1 with the error code stored into the
 global variable
 .BR errno .
+Since \-1 is also a valid return value upon success, one should clear
+.B errno
+before calling this function, and if \-1 is returned,
+check its value again afterwards.
 .SH ERRORS
 The following error code may be set in
 .BR errno :