diff --git a/lib/awful/spawn.lua b/lib/awful/spawn.lua
index 6b99c4cd..339049fd 100644
--- a/lib/awful/spawn.lua
+++ b/lib/awful/spawn.lua
@@ -106,8 +106,8 @@ function spawn.spawn(cmd, sn_rules, callback)
         enable_sn = not not enable_sn -- Force into a boolean.
         local pid, snid = capi.awesome.spawn(cmd, enable_sn)
         -- The snid will be nil in case of failure
-        if snid and type(sn_rules) == "table" then
-            sn_rules = sn_rules or {}
+        if snid then
+            sn_rules = type(sn_rules) ~= "boolean" and sn_rules or {}
             spawn.snid_buffer[snid] = { sn_rules, { callback } }
         end
         return pid, snid
diff --git a/tests/_client.lua b/tests/_client.lua
index e9f586b8..440af23c 100644
--- a/tests/_client.lua
+++ b/tests/_client.lua
@@ -79,25 +79,24 @@ local function init()
 end
 
 -- Hack needed for awesome's Startup Notification machinery
-local function get_snid(sn_rules)
-    local success, snid = spawn({ "/bin/true" }, sn_rules)
+local function get_snid(sn_rules, callback)
+    local success, snid = spawn({ "/bin/true" }, sn_rules, callback)
     assert(success)
     assert(snid)
     return snid
 end
 
-return function(class, title, sn_rules)
+return function(class, title, sn_rules, callback)
     class = class or "test_app"
     title = title or "Awesome test client"
 
     init()
-    local snid = sn_rules and get_snid(sn_rules) or ""
+    local snid = (sn_rules or callback) and get_snid(sn_rules, callback) or ""
     local data = class .. "\n" .. title .. "\n" .. snid .. "\n"
     local success, msg = pipe:write_all(data)
     assert(success, msg)
 
-    -- TODO: Fix the API of this function
-     return true, sn_rules and snid or nil
+    return snid
 end
 
 -- vim: filetype=lua:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:textwidth=80
diff --git a/tests/test-spawn-snid.lua b/tests/test-spawn-snid.lua
index 06adc968..83890661 100644
--- a/tests/test-spawn-snid.lua
+++ b/tests/test-spawn-snid.lua
@@ -12,14 +12,18 @@ client.connect_signal("manage", function(c)
       tostring(c.machine) .. " ~= " .. tostring(awesome.hostname))
 end)
 
+local snid
+local num_callbacks = 0
+local function callback(c)
+    assert(c.startup_id == snid)
+    num_callbacks = num_callbacks + 1
+end
 
-local ret, snid
 local steps = {
   function(count)
     if count == 1 then
-      ret, snid = test_client("foo", "bar", true)
+      snid = test_client("foo", "bar", true)
     elseif manage_called then
-      assert(ret)
       assert(snid)
       assert(snid == c_snid)
       return true
@@ -31,14 +35,24 @@ local steps = {
   function(count)
     if count == 1 then
       manage_called = false
-      ret, snid = test_client("bar", "foo", false)
+      test_client("bar", "foo", false)
     elseif manage_called then
-      assert(ret)
-      assert(snid == nil)
       assert(c_snid == nil, "c.startup_snid should be nil!")
       return true
     end
-  end
+  end,
+
+  function(count)
+      if count == 1 then
+          manage_called = false
+          snid = test_client("baz", "barz", false, callback)
+      elseif manage_called then
+          assert(snid)
+          assert(snid == c_snid)
+          assert(num_callbacks == 1, num_callbacks)
+          return true
+      end
+  end,
 }
 
 runner.run_steps(steps)