diff --git a/bsd-user/main.c b/bsd-user/main.c
index abe9a26f9b..4819b9ec63 100644
--- a/bsd-user/main.c
+++ b/bsd-user/main.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include <machine/trap.h>
 
+#include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qemu.h"
 #include "qemu/path.h"
 #include "qemu/help_option.h"
@@ -847,7 +848,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
     /* init debug */
     qemu_log_needs_buffers();
-    qemu_set_log_filename(log_file);
+    qemu_set_log_filename(log_file, &error_fatal);
     if (log_mask) {
         int mask;
 
diff --git a/include/qemu/log.h b/include/qemu/log.h
index df8d041854..8bec6b4039 100644
--- a/include/qemu/log.h
+++ b/include/qemu/log.h
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ extern const QEMULogItem qemu_log_items[];
 
 void qemu_set_log(int log_flags);
 void qemu_log_needs_buffers(void);
-void qemu_set_log_filename(const char *filename);
+void qemu_set_log_filename(const char *filename, Error **errp);
 void qemu_set_dfilter_ranges(const char *ranges, Error **errp);
 bool qemu_log_in_addr_range(uint64_t addr);
 int qemu_str_to_log_mask(const char *str);
diff --git a/linux-user/main.c b/linux-user/main.c
index b9a4e0ea45..358ed01e96 100644
--- a/linux-user/main.c
+++ b/linux-user/main.c
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <sys/syscall.h>
 #include <sys/resource.h>
 
+#include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qemu.h"
 #include "qemu/path.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
@@ -3845,7 +3846,7 @@ static void handle_arg_log(const char *arg)
 
 static void handle_arg_log_filename(const char *arg)
 {
-    qemu_set_log_filename(arg);
+    qemu_set_log_filename(arg, &error_fatal);
 }
 
 static void handle_arg_set_env(const char *arg)
diff --git a/monitor.c b/monitor.c
index a5d054b039..6f960f13a6 100644
--- a/monitor.c
+++ b/monitor.c
@@ -1111,7 +1111,12 @@ void qmp_client_migrate_info(const char *protocol, const char *hostname,
 
 static void hmp_logfile(Monitor *mon, const QDict *qdict)
 {
-    qemu_set_log_filename(qdict_get_str(qdict, "filename"));
+    Error *err = NULL;
+
+    qemu_set_log_filename(qdict_get_str(qdict, "filename"), &err);
+    if (err) {
+        error_report_err(err);
+    }
 }
 
 static void hmp_log(Monitor *mon, const QDict *qdict)
diff --git a/tests/test-logging.c b/tests/test-logging.c
index e043adc8f8..440e75f5db 100644
--- a/tests/test-logging.c
+++ b/tests/test-logging.c
@@ -75,49 +75,24 @@ static void test_parse_range(void)
     error_free_or_abort(&err);
 }
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_HAS_GLIB_SUBPROCESS_TESTS
-/* As the only real failure from a bad log filename path spec is
- * reporting to the user we have to use the g_test_trap_subprocess
- * mechanism and check no errors reported on stderr.
- */
-static void test_parse_path_subprocess(void)
-{
-    /* All these should work without issue */
-    qemu_set_log_filename("/tmp/qemu.log");
-    qemu_set_log_filename("/tmp/qemu-%d.log");
-    qemu_set_log_filename("/tmp/qemu.log.%d");
-}
 static void test_parse_path(void)
 {
-    g_test_trap_subprocess ("/logging/parse_path/subprocess", 0, 0);
-    g_test_trap_assert_passed();
-    g_test_trap_assert_stdout("");
-    g_test_trap_assert_stderr("");
+    Error *err = NULL;
+
+    qemu_set_log_filename("/tmp/qemu.log", &error_abort);
+    qemu_set_log_filename("/tmp/qemu-%d.log", &error_abort);
+    qemu_set_log_filename("/tmp/qemu.log.%d", &error_abort);
+
+    qemu_set_log_filename("/tmp/qemu-%d%d.log", &err);
+    error_free_or_abort(&err);
 }
-static void test_parse_invalid_path_subprocess(void)
-{
-    qemu_set_log_filename("/tmp/qemu-%d%d.log");
-}
-static void test_parse_invalid_path(void)
-{
-    g_test_trap_subprocess ("/logging/parse_invalid_path/subprocess", 0, 0);
-    g_test_trap_assert_passed();
-    g_test_trap_assert_stdout("");
-    g_test_trap_assert_stderr("Bad logfile format: /tmp/qemu-%d%d.log\n");
-}
-#endif /* CONFIG_HAS_GLIB_SUBPROCESS_TESTS */
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
     g_test_init(&argc, &argv, NULL);
 
     g_test_add_func("/logging/parse_range", test_parse_range);
-#ifdef CONFIG_HAS_GLIB_SUBPROCESS_TESTS
     g_test_add_func("/logging/parse_path", test_parse_path);
-    g_test_add_func("/logging/parse_path/subprocess", test_parse_path_subprocess);
-    g_test_add_func("/logging/parse_invalid_path", test_parse_invalid_path);
-    g_test_add_func("/logging/parse_invalid_path/subprocess", test_parse_invalid_path_subprocess);
-#endif
 
     return g_test_run();
 }
diff --git a/trace/control.c b/trace/control.c
index d099f735d5..e1556a3570 100644
--- a/trace/control.c
+++ b/trace/control.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #ifdef CONFIG_TRACE_LOG
 #include "qemu/log.h"
 #endif
+#include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
 #include "monitor/monitor.h"
 
@@ -187,7 +188,7 @@ void trace_init_file(const char *file)
      * only applies to the simple backend; use "-D" for the log backend.
      */
     if (file) {
-        qemu_set_log_filename(file);
+        qemu_set_log_filename(file, &error_fatal);
     }
 #else
     if (file) {
diff --git a/util/log.c b/util/log.c
index fcf85c6253..32e416051c 100644
--- a/util/log.c
+++ b/util/log.c
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ void qemu_log_needs_buffers(void)
  * substituted with the current PID. This is useful for debugging many
  * nested linux-user tasks but will result in lots of logs.
  */
-void qemu_set_log_filename(const char *filename)
+void qemu_set_log_filename(const char *filename, Error **errp)
 {
     char *pidstr;
     g_free(logfilename);
@@ -112,8 +112,8 @@ void qemu_set_log_filename(const char *filename)
     if (pidstr) {
         /* We only accept one %d, no other format strings */
         if (pidstr[1] != 'd' || strchr(pidstr + 2, '%')) {
-            error_report("Bad logfile format: %s", filename);
-            logfilename = NULL;
+            error_setg(errp, "Bad logfile format: %s", filename);
+            return;
         } else {
             logfilename = g_strdup_printf(filename, getpid());
         }
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 749c421234..c85833a63c 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -4054,7 +4054,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     /* Open the logfile at this point and set the log mask if necessary.
      */
     if (log_file) {
-        qemu_set_log_filename(log_file);
+        qemu_set_log_filename(log_file, &error_fatal);
     }
 
     if (log_mask) {