diff --git a/src/shared/pretty-print.c b/src/shared/pretty-print.c
index cc226e72ea7..0360fa9d72a 100644
--- a/src/shared/pretty-print.c
+++ b/src/shared/pretty-print.c
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ bool shall_tint_background(void) {
         return cache != 0;
 }
 
-void draw_progress_bar_unbuffered(const char *prefix, double percentage) {
+void draw_progress_bar_impl(const char *prefix, double percentage) {
         fputc('\r', stderr);
         if (prefix) {
                 fputs(prefix, stderr);
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ void draw_progress_bar_unbuffered(const char *prefix, double percentage) {
 
 }
 
-void clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(const char *prefix) {
+void clear_progress_bar_impl(const char *prefix) {
         fputc('\r', stderr);
 
         if (terminal_is_dumb())
@@ -531,28 +531,14 @@ void clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(const char *prefix) {
 }
 
 void draw_progress_bar(const char *prefix, double percentage) {
-
         /* We are going output a bunch of small strings that shall appear as a single line to STDERR which is
          * unbuffered by default. Let's temporarily turn on full buffering, so that this is passed to the tty
          * as a single buffer, to make things more efficient. */
-        char buffer[LONG_LINE_MAX];
-        setvbuf(stderr, buffer, _IOFBF, sizeof(buffer));
-
-        draw_progress_bar_unbuffered(prefix, percentage);
-
-        fflush(stderr);
-
-        /* Disable buffering again */
-        setvbuf(stderr, NULL, _IONBF, 0);
+        WITH_BUFFERED_STDERR;
+        draw_progress_bar_impl(prefix, percentage);
 }
 
 void clear_progress_bar(const char *prefix) {
-        char buffer[LONG_LINE_MAX];
-        setvbuf(stderr, buffer, _IOFBF, sizeof(buffer));
-
-        clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(prefix);
-
-        fflush(stderr);
-
-        setvbuf(stderr, NULL, _IONBF, 0);
+        WITH_BUFFERED_STDERR;
+        clear_progress_bar_impl(prefix);
 }
diff --git a/src/shared/pretty-print.h b/src/shared/pretty-print.h
index d3af149a2ef..446f305b733 100644
--- a/src/shared/pretty-print.h
+++ b/src/shared/pretty-print.h
@@ -55,5 +55,34 @@ bool shall_tint_background(void);
 
 void draw_progress_bar(const char *prefix, double percentage);
 void clear_progress_bar(const char *prefix);
-void draw_progress_bar_unbuffered(const char *prefix, double percentage);
-void clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(const char *prefix);
+void draw_progress_bar_impl(const char *prefix, double percentage);
+void clear_progress_bar_impl(const char *prefix);
+
+static inline FILE* enable_buffering(FILE *f, char *buffer, size_t size) {
+        assert(f);
+        assert(buffer);
+        assert(size > 0);
+
+        if (setvbuf(f, buffer, _IOFBF, size) != 0)
+                return NULL;
+
+        return f;
+}
+
+static inline void fflush_and_disable_bufferingp(FILE **p) {
+        assert(p);
+
+        if (*p) {
+                fflush(*p);
+                setvbuf(*p, NULL, _IONBF, 0); /* Disable buffering again. */
+        }
+}
+
+/* Even though the macro below is slightly generic, but it may not work most streams except for stderr,
+ * as stdout is buffered and fopen() enables buffering by default. */
+#define _WITH_BUFFERED_STREAM(f, size, p)                               \
+        _unused_ _cleanup_(fflush_and_disable_bufferingp) FILE *p =     \
+                enable_buffering(f, (char[size]) {}, size)
+
+#define WITH_BUFFERED_STDERR                                            \
+        _WITH_BUFFERED_STREAM(stderr, LONG_LINE_MAX, UNIQ_T(p, UNIQ))
diff --git a/src/sysupdate/updatectl.c b/src/sysupdate/updatectl.c
index c298b244641..fad68ebd881 100644
--- a/src/sysupdate/updatectl.c
+++ b/src/sysupdate/updatectl.c
@@ -798,8 +798,7 @@ static int update_render_progress(sd_event_source *source, void *userdata) {
 
         /* We're outputting lots of small strings to STDERR, which is unbuffered by default. So let's turn
          * on full buffering, so we pass this all to the TTY in one go, to make things more efficient */
-        char buffer[LONG_LINE_MAX];
-        setvbuf(stderr, buffer, _IOFBF, sizeof(buffer));
+        WITH_BUFFERED_STDERR;
 
         if (!terminal_is_dumb()) {
                 for (size_t i = 0; i <= n; i++)
@@ -815,23 +814,23 @@ static int update_render_progress(sd_event_source *source, void *userdata) {
                 int progress = PTR_TO_INT(p);
 
                 if (progress == UPDATE_PROGRESS_FAILED) {
-                        clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(target);
+                        clear_progress_bar_impl(target);
                         fprintf(stderr, "%s: %s Unknown failure\n", target, RED_CROSS_MARK());
                         total += 100;
                 } else if (progress == -EALREADY) {
-                        clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(target);
+                        clear_progress_bar_impl(target);
                         fprintf(stderr, "%s: %s Already up-to-date\n", target, GREEN_CHECK_MARK());
                         n--; /* Don't consider this target in the total */
                 } else if (progress < 0) {
-                        clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(target);
+                        clear_progress_bar_impl(target);
                         fprintf(stderr, "%s: %s %s\n", target, RED_CROSS_MARK(), STRERROR(progress));
                         total += 100;
                 } else if (progress == UPDATE_PROGRESS_DONE) {
-                        clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(target);
+                        clear_progress_bar_impl(target);
                         fprintf(stderr, "%s: %s Done\n", target, GREEN_CHECK_MARK());
                         total += 100;
                 } else {
-                        draw_progress_bar_unbuffered(target, progress);
+                        draw_progress_bar_impl(target, progress);
                         fputs("\n", stderr);
                         total += progress;
                 }
@@ -839,9 +838,9 @@ static int update_render_progress(sd_event_source *source, void *userdata) {
 
         if (n > 1) {
                 if (exiting)
-                        clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(target);
+                        clear_progress_bar_impl(target);
                 else {
-                        draw_progress_bar_unbuffered("Total", (double) total / n);
+                        draw_progress_bar_impl("Total", (double) total / n);
                         if (terminal_is_dumb())
                                 fputs("\n", stderr);
                 }
@@ -855,8 +854,6 @@ static int update_render_progress(sd_event_source *source, void *userdata) {
         } else if (!exiting)
                 fputs("------\n", stderr);
 
-        fflush(stderr);
-        setvbuf(stderr, NULL, _IONBF, 0); /* Disable buffering again */
         return 0;
 }