diff --git a/include/sysemu/numa.h b/include/sysemu/numa.h
index 7a0ae751aa..21713b7e2f 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/numa.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/numa.h
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ struct NumaNodeMem {
 };
 
 extern NodeInfo numa_info[MAX_NODES];
-int parse_numa(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp);
 void parse_numa_opts(MachineState *ms);
 void numa_complete_configuration(MachineState *ms);
 void query_numa_node_mem(NumaNodeMem node_mem[]);
diff --git a/numa.c b/numa.c
index 1d7c49ad43..50ec016013 100644
--- a/numa.c
+++ b/numa.c
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ end:
     error_propagate(errp, err);
 }
 
-int parse_numa(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
+static int parse_numa(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
 {
     NumaOptions *object = NULL;
     MachineState *ms = MACHINE(opaque);
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ int parse_numa(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
 end:
     qapi_free_NumaOptions(object);
     if (err) {
-        error_report_err(err);
+        error_propagate(errp, err);
         return -1;
     }
 
@@ -444,9 +444,7 @@ void numa_complete_configuration(MachineState *ms)
 
 void parse_numa_opts(MachineState *ms)
 {
-    if (qemu_opts_foreach(qemu_find_opts("numa"), parse_numa, ms, NULL)) {
-        exit(1);
-    }
+    qemu_opts_foreach(qemu_find_opts("numa"), parse_numa, ms, &error_fatal);
 }
 
 void qmp_set_numa_node(NumaOptions *cmd, Error **errp)