diff --git a/contrib/ivshmem-server/main.c b/contrib/ivshmem-server/main.c
index 54ff001c23..00508b5edd 100644
--- a/contrib/ivshmem-server/main.c
+++ b/contrib/ivshmem-server/main.c
@@ -106,9 +106,7 @@ ivshmem_server_parse_args(IvshmemServerArgs *args, int argc, char *argv[])
         case 'l': /* shm_size */
             parse_option_size("shm_size", optarg, &args->shm_size, &errp);
             if (errp) {
-                fprintf(stderr, "cannot parse shm size: %s\n",
-                        error_get_pretty(errp));
-                error_free(errp);
+                error_report_err(errp);
                 ivshmem_server_usage(argv[0], 1);
             }
             break;
diff --git a/qdev-monitor.c b/qdev-monitor.c
index 30936dfba4..3ce47109e3 100644
--- a/qdev-monitor.c
+++ b/qdev-monitor.c
@@ -266,8 +266,7 @@ int qdev_device_help(QemuOpts *opts)
     return 1;
 
 error:
-    error_printf("%s\n", error_get_pretty(local_err));
-    error_free(local_err);
+    error_report_err(local_err);
     return 1;
 }
 
diff --git a/qemu-nbd.c b/qemu-nbd.c
index 65c0ebda04..706552e64c 100644
--- a/qemu-nbd.c
+++ b/qemu-nbd.c
@@ -251,8 +251,7 @@ static void *nbd_client_thread(void *arg)
                                 &size, &local_error);
     if (ret < 0) {
         if (local_error) {
-            fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", error_get_pretty(local_error));
-            error_free(local_error);
+            error_report_err(local_error);
         }
         goto out_socket;
     }