diff --git a/src/util/virbuffer.c b/src/util/virbuffer.c
index 12bdd13d394e45d0af43f7f993437134fe3982a3..8bb9c8e1fae101a3b02a2fccbaa0fe4d89dbcd35 100644
--- a/src/util/virbuffer.c
+++ b/src/util/virbuffer.c
@@ -23,24 +23,12 @@
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include "c-ctype.h"
 
-#define __VIR_BUFFER_C__
-
 #include "virbuffer.h"
 #include "virerror.h"
 #include "virstring.h"
 
 #define VIR_FROM_THIS VIR_FROM_NONE
 
-/* If adding more fields, ensure to edit buf.h to match
-   the number of fields */
-struct _virBuffer {
-    unsigned int size;
-    unsigned int use;
-    unsigned int error; /* errno value, or -1 for usage error */
-    int indent;
-    char *content;
-};
-
 /**
  * virBufferFail
  * @buf: the buffer
diff --git a/src/util/virbuffer.h b/src/util/virbuffer.h
index b399c9015477f2d1db2efdbb76127f3fba8102eb..16cd8515d6d7142f5c51335527e42157f94b5f20 100644
--- a/src/util/virbuffer.h
+++ b/src/util/virbuffer.h
@@ -35,19 +35,15 @@
 typedef struct _virBuffer virBuffer;
 typedef virBuffer *virBufferPtr;
 
-# ifndef __VIR_BUFFER_C__
-#  define VIR_BUFFER_INITIALIZER { 0, 0, 0, 0, NULL }
+# define VIR_BUFFER_INITIALIZER { 0, 0, 0, 0, NULL }
 
-/* This struct must be kept in sync with the real struct
-   in the buf.c impl file */
 struct _virBuffer {
-    unsigned int a;
-    unsigned int b;
-    unsigned int c;
-    int d;
-    char *e;
+    unsigned int size;
+    unsigned int use;
+    unsigned int error; /* errno value, or -1 for usage error */
+    int indent;
+    char *content;
 };
-# endif
 
 const char *virBufferCurrentContent(virBufferPtr buf);
 char *virBufferContentAndReset(virBufferPtr buf);
diff --git a/tests/virbuftest.c b/tests/virbuftest.c
index 34f02b128120abf95baf0ac324925d2f771f6579..b608da94d490fae30bb321a05aecc2a3efe4005f 100644
--- a/tests/virbuftest.c
+++ b/tests/virbuftest.c
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ static int testBufInfiniteLoop(const void *data)
      * which was the case after the above addchar at the time of the bug.
      * This test is a bit fragile, since it relies on virBuffer internals.
      */
-    if (virAsprintf(&addstr, "%*s", buf->a - buf->b - 1, "a") < 0)
+    if (virAsprintf(&addstr, "%*s", buf->size - buf->use - 1, "a") < 0)
         goto out;
 
     if (info->doEscape)