diff --git a/include/qapi/error.h b/include/qapi/error.h
index f44c451830d4fe78e9419c8530d23dea6411f22a..34af4e103f163cbc3668b9538264d32743a46df5 100644
--- a/include/qapi/error.h
+++ b/include/qapi/error.h
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ void error_set_win32(Error **errp, int win32_err, ErrorClass err_class,
 /**
  * Same as error_set(), but sets a generic error
  */
-#define error_setg(errp, fmt, ...) \
-    error_set(errp, ERROR_CLASS_GENERIC_ERROR, fmt, ## __VA_ARGS__)
+void error_setg(Error **errp, const char *fmt, ...)
+    GCC_FMT_ATTR(2, 3);
 #define error_setg_errno(errp, os_error, fmt, ...) \
     error_set_errno(errp, os_error, ERROR_CLASS_GENERIC_ERROR, \
                     fmt, ## __VA_ARGS__)
diff --git a/util/error.c b/util/error.c
index 45186428814b18624d878a9c55d5c28955c1f801..8f12f67012f784cefeca2bdd6a6be2a7f59211e6 100644
--- a/util/error.c
+++ b/util/error.c
@@ -56,6 +56,15 @@ void error_set(Error **errp, ErrorClass err_class, const char *fmt, ...)
     va_end(ap);
 }
 
+void error_setg(Error **errp, const char *fmt, ...)
+{
+    va_list ap;
+
+    va_start(ap, fmt);
+    error_setv(errp, ERROR_CLASS_GENERIC_ERROR, fmt, ap);
+    va_end(ap);
+}
+
 void error_set_errno(Error **errp, int os_errno, ErrorClass err_class,
                      const char *fmt, ...)
 {