diff --git a/src/util/virerror.c b/src/util/virerror.c
index 5f26d5977766219afc5b943fe1178696414679de..4688e019ccb6d4405698ed7ee87802cde1e1afa9 100644
--- a/src/util/virerror.c
+++ b/src/util/virerror.c
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 #include "virerror.h"
 #include "datatypes.h"
 #include "virlog.h"
-#include "viralloc.h"
 #include "virthread.h"
 #include "virutil.h"
 #include "virstring.h"
diff --git a/src/util/virerror.h b/src/util/virerror.h
index 760bfa43df07490a5091486348a7f70e7a5c1e5c..31577c5c8c6692c74f458cc7f77a3b6043a2e8a9 100644
--- a/src/util/virerror.h
+++ b/src/util/virerror.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 # define __VIRT_ERROR_H_
 
 # include "internal.h"
+# include "viralloc.h"
 
 # define VIR_ERROR_MAX_LENGTH 1024
 
@@ -205,4 +206,6 @@ bool virLastErrorIsSystemErrno(int errnum);
 void virErrorPreserveLast(virErrorPtr *saveerr);
 void virErrorRestore(virErrorPtr *savederr);
 
+VIR_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_FUNC(virError, virFreeError)
+
 #endif