diff --git a/include/qemu/error-report.h b/include/qemu/error-report.h
index 33e662db44..b6f45e69d7 100644
--- a/include/qemu/error-report.h
+++ b/include/qemu/error-report.h
@@ -72,8 +72,6 @@ void error_init(const char *argv0);
                               fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__);      \
     })
 
-const char *error_get_progname(void);
-
 extern bool message_with_timestamp;
 extern bool error_with_guestname;
 extern const char *error_guest_name;
diff --git a/qemu-io.c b/qemu-io.c
index e45a15c41a..eb8afc8b41 100644
--- a/qemu-io.c
+++ b/qemu-io.c
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ static char *get_prompt(void)
     static char prompt[FILENAME_MAX + 2 /*"> "*/ + 1 /*"\0"*/ ];
 
     if (!prompt[0]) {
-        snprintf(prompt, sizeof(prompt), "%s> ", error_get_progname());
+        snprintf(prompt, sizeof(prompt), "%s> ", g_get_prgname());
     }
 
     return prompt;
@@ -598,10 +598,10 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
             break;
         case 'V':
             printf("%s version " QEMU_FULL_VERSION "\n"
-                   QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n", error_get_progname());
+                   QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n", g_get_prgname());
             exit(0);
         case 'h':
-            usage(error_get_progname());
+            usage(g_get_prgname());
             exit(0);
         case 'U':
             force_share = true;
@@ -613,13 +613,13 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
             imageOpts = true;
             break;
         default:
-            usage(error_get_progname());
+            usage(g_get_prgname());
             exit(1);
         }
     }
 
     if ((argc - optind) > 1) {
-        usage(error_get_progname());
+        usage(g_get_prgname());
         exit(1);
     }
 
diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c
index 7e4d55bc1d..6f646531a0 100644
--- a/softmmu/vl.c
+++ b/softmmu/vl.c
@@ -836,7 +836,7 @@ static void help(int exitcode)
     version();
     printf("usage: %s [options] [disk_image]\n\n"
            "'disk_image' is a raw hard disk image for IDE hard disk 0\n\n",
-            error_get_progname());
+            g_get_prgname());
 
 #define DEF(option, opt_arg, opt_enum, opt_help, arch_mask)    \
     if ((arch_mask) & arch_type)                               \
diff --git a/storage-daemon/qemu-storage-daemon.c b/storage-daemon/qemu-storage-daemon.c
index dd18b2cde8..eb72407257 100644
--- a/storage-daemon/qemu-storage-daemon.c
+++ b/storage-daemon/qemu-storage-daemon.c
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ static void help(void)
 "  --pidfile <path>       write process ID to a file after startup\n"
 "\n"
 QEMU_HELP_BOTTOM "\n",
-    error_get_progname());
+    g_get_prgname());
 }
 
 enum {
diff --git a/trace/control.c b/trace/control.c
index d5b68e846e..6c77cc6318 100644
--- a/trace/control.c
+++ b/trace/control.c
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ void trace_list_events(FILE *f)
     fprintf(f, "This list of names of trace points may be incomplete "
                "when using the DTrace/SystemTap backends.\n"
                "Run 'qemu-trace-stap list %s' to print the full list.\n",
-            error_get_progname());
+            g_get_prgname());
 #endif
 }
 
diff --git a/util/qemu-error.c b/util/qemu-error.c
index 52a9e013c4..7769aee8e7 100644
--- a/util/qemu-error.c
+++ b/util/qemu-error.c
@@ -146,22 +146,6 @@ void loc_set_file(const char *fname, int lno)
     }
 }
 
-static const char *progname;
-
-/*
- * Set the program name for error_print_loc().
- */
-static void error_set_progname(const char *argv0)
-{
-    const char *p = strrchr(argv0, '/');
-    progname = p ? p + 1 : argv0;
-}
-
-const char *error_get_progname(void)
-{
-    return progname;
-}
-
 /*
  * Print current location to current monitor if we have one, else to stderr.
  */
@@ -171,8 +155,8 @@ static void print_loc(void)
     int i;
     const char *const *argp;
 
-    if (!monitor_cur() && progname) {
-        fprintf(stderr, "%s:", progname);
+    if (!monitor_cur() && g_get_prgname()) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "%s:", g_get_prgname());
         sep = " ";
     }
     switch (cur_loc->kind) {
@@ -400,8 +384,10 @@ static void qemu_log_func(const gchar *log_domain,
 
 void error_init(const char *argv0)
 {
+    const char *p = strrchr(argv0, '/');
+
     /* Set the program name for error_print_loc(). */
-    error_set_progname(argv0);
+    g_set_prgname(p ? p + 1 : argv0);
 
     /*
      * This sets up glib logging so libraries using it also print their logs