diff --git a/src/util/util.c b/src/util/util.c
index 624e570245..cf7bba5d5d 100644
--- a/src/util/util.c
+++ b/src/util/util.c
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@
 #include "virterror_internal.h"
 #include "logging.h"
 #include "event.h"
+#include "ignore-value.h"
 #include "buf.h"
 #include "util.h"
 #include "memory.h"
@@ -344,7 +345,7 @@ int virFork(pid_t *pid) {
     if (*pid < 0) {
         /* attempt to restore signal mask, but ignore failure, to
            avoid obscuring the fork failure */
-        pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &oldmask, NULL);
+        ignore_value (pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &oldmask, NULL));
         virReportSystemError(saved_errno,
                              "%s", _("cannot fork child process"));
         goto cleanup;