diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 4cca0ca9ad..afb9100c50 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -2630,6 +2630,7 @@ virStringSplitCount;
 virStringStripControlChars;
 virStringStripIPv6Brackets;
 virStringToUpper;
+virStringTrimOptionalNewline;
 virStrncpy;
 virStrndup;
 virStrToDouble;
diff --git a/src/util/virstring.c b/src/util/virstring.c
index 69abc267bf..335e773d78 100644
--- a/src/util/virstring.c
+++ b/src/util/virstring.c
@@ -1180,3 +1180,17 @@ virStringEncodeBase64(const uint8_t *buf, size_t buflen)
 
     return ret;
 }
+
+/**
+ * virStringTrimOptionalNewline:
+ * @str: the string to modify in-place
+ *
+ * Modify @str to remove a single '\n' character
+ * from its end, if one exists.
+ */
+void virStringTrimOptionalNewline(char *str)
+{
+    char *tmp = str + strlen(str) - 1;
+    if (*tmp == '\n')
+        *tmp = '\0';
+}
diff --git a/src/util/virstring.h b/src/util/virstring.h
index 603650aa15..c545ca3f0d 100644
--- a/src/util/virstring.h
+++ b/src/util/virstring.h
@@ -288,12 +288,6 @@ bool virStringBufferIsPrintable(const uint8_t *buf, size_t buflen);
 
 char *virStringEncodeBase64(const uint8_t *buf, size_t buflen);
 
-static inline void
-virStringTrimOptionalNewline(char *str)
-{
-    char *tmp = str + strlen(str) - 1;
-    if (*tmp == '\n')
-        *tmp = '\0';
-}
+void virStringTrimOptionalNewline(char *str);
 
 #endif /* __VIR_STRING_H__ */