diff --git a/tools/virsh.c b/tools/virsh.c
index 391c1555b630133977fd638f7300f0f9207c08b2..77d3754efdfdd477e3f2698af6d43c8ad5e798e2 100644
--- a/tools/virsh.c
+++ b/tools/virsh.c
@@ -904,7 +904,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
     if ((defaultConn = virGetEnvBlockSUID("VIRSH_DEFAULT_CONNECT_URI")))
         ctl->connname = vshStrdup(ctl, defaultConn);
 
-    if (vshInit(ctl, cmdGroups, NULL) < 0)
+    if (!vshInit(ctl, cmdGroups, NULL))
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 
     if (!virshParseArgv(ctl, argc, argv) ||
diff --git a/tools/vsh.c b/tools/vsh.c
index 54c4614a67814624b3d945c74ce40e140876d607..e6ecc0385494c96e55dc1642d4b5ba6e426c113b 100644
--- a/tools/vsh.c
+++ b/tools/vsh.c
@@ -2714,20 +2714,18 @@ vshInitDebug(vshControl *ctl)
 /*
  * Initialize global data
  */
-int
+bool
 vshInit(vshControl *ctl, const vshCmdGrp *groups, const vshCmdDef *set)
 {
-    int ret = -1;
-
     if (!ctl->hooks) {
         vshError(ctl, "%s", _("client hooks cannot be NULL"));
-        goto error;
+        return false;
     }
 
     if (!groups && !set) {
         vshError(ctl, "%s", _("command groups and command set "
                               "cannot both be NULL"));
-        goto error;
+        return false;
     }
 
     cmdGroups = groups;
@@ -2735,11 +2733,9 @@ vshInit(vshControl *ctl, const vshCmdGrp *groups, const vshCmdDef *set)
     vshInitDebug(ctl);
 
     if (ctl->imode && vshReadlineInit(ctl) < 0)
-        goto error;
+        return false;
 
-    ret = 0;
- error:
-    return ret;
+    return true;
 }
 
 void
diff --git a/tools/vsh.h b/tools/vsh.h
index 37416c7c94e2579fd9209212b244718f18cc8ac5..e2e33ba160e4146affd6955cd1d8f4e4553fb6bc 100644
--- a/tools/vsh.h
+++ b/tools/vsh.h
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ int vshCommandOptTimeoutToMs(vshControl *ctl, const vshCmd *cmd, int *timeout);
 
 void vshPrintExtra(vshControl *ctl, const char *format, ...)
     ATTRIBUTE_FMT_PRINTF(2, 3);
-int vshInit(vshControl *ctl, const vshCmdGrp *groups, const vshCmdDef *set);
+bool vshInit(vshControl *ctl, const vshCmdGrp *groups, const vshCmdDef *set);
 void vshDeinit(vshControl *ctl);
 void vshInitDebug(vshControl *ctl);
 void vshDebug(vshControl *ctl, int level, const char *format, ...)