diff --git a/ompi/mpiext/example/c/progress.c b/ompi/mpiext/example/c/progress.c
index 4287fca551..6d43185ae0 100644
--- a/ompi/mpiext/example/c/progress.c
+++ b/ompi/mpiext/example/c/progress.c
@@ -12,10 +12,37 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 
 #include "ompi/mpi/c/bindings.h"
+#include "ompi/mpiext/mpiext.h"
 #include "ompi/mpiext/example/mpiext_example_c.h"
 
 static const char FUNC_NAME[] = "OMPI_Progress";
 
+/* 
+ * The init/fini functions and the component struct are not required,
+ * but optional.  If an extension would like to have init/fini, in
+ * addition to providing the hooks below, adding the line in
+ * configure.m4 (documented in example's configure.m4) is also
+ * required.
+*/
+static int
+example_init(void)
+{
+    printf("example mpiext init\n");
+    return OMPI_SUCCESS;
+}
+
+static int
+example_fini(void)
+{
+    printf("example mpiext fini\n");
+    return OMPI_SUCCESS;
+}
+
+ompi_mpiext_component_t ompi_mpiext_example = {
+    example_init,
+    example_fini
+};
+
 
 int OMPI_Progress(char * stmt) 
 {
diff --git a/ompi/mpiext/example/configure.m4 b/ompi/mpiext/example/configure.m4
index 7f3ca4dba2..f1127031fc 100644
--- a/ompi/mpiext/example/configure.m4
+++ b/ompi/mpiext/example/configure.m4
@@ -15,3 +15,6 @@ AC_DEFUN([OMPI_MPIEXT_example_CONFIG],[
     AC_CONFIG_FILES([ompi/mpiext/example/Makefile])
     $1
 ])
+
+# only need to set this if the component needs init/finalize hooks
+AC_DEFUN([OMPI_MPIEXT_example_NEED_INIT], [1])
diff --git a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c
index 3a690d9e46..3a61f0463f 100644
--- a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c
+++ b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c
@@ -928,7 +928,7 @@ int ompi_mpi_init(int argc, char **argv, int requested, int *provided)
        the user's code.  Setup the connections between procs and warm
        them up with simple sends, if requested */
 
-    if (OMPI_SUCCESS != ompi_mpiext_init()) {
+    if (OMPI_SUCCESS != (ret = ompi_mpiext_init())) {
         error = "ompi_mpiext_init";
         goto error;
     }