diff --git a/src/util/virxml.h b/src/util/virxml.h
index fd0d30fcec..b73591c3df 100644
--- a/src/util/virxml.h
+++ b/src/util/virxml.h
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ virXMLValidateNodeAgainstSchema(const char *schemafile,
 
 void
 virXMLValidatorFree(virXMLValidatorPtr validator);
+G_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_CLEANUP_FUNC(virXMLValidator, virXMLValidatorFree);
 
 void
 virXMLFormatElement(virBufferPtr buf,