diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index afda71f39e..b4dd338d26 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -1148,7 +1148,6 @@ virCryptoHashString;
 
 
 # util/virdbus.h
-virDBusCall;
 virDBusCallMethod;
 virDBusCloseSystemBus;
 virDBusCreateMethod;
diff --git a/src/util/virdbus.c b/src/util/virdbus.c
index 4217aea0a9..709d6ee463 100644
--- a/src/util/virdbus.c
+++ b/src/util/virdbus.c
@@ -1404,10 +1404,11 @@ int virDBusCreateReply(DBusMessage **reply,
  *
  * Returns 0 on success, or -1 upon error
  */
-int virDBusCall(DBusConnection *conn,
-                DBusMessage *call,
-                DBusMessage **replyout,
-                DBusError *error)
+static int
+virDBusCall(DBusConnection *conn,
+            DBusMessage *call,
+            DBusMessage **replyout,
+            DBusError *error)
 {
     DBusMessage *reply = NULL;
     DBusError localerror;
@@ -1694,16 +1695,6 @@ int virDBusCreateReply(DBusMessage **reply ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
     return -1;
 }
 
-int virDBusCall(DBusConnection *conn ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
-                DBusMessage *call ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
-                DBusMessage **reply ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
-                DBusError *error ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
-{
-    virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                   "%s", _("DBus support not compiled into this binary"));
-    return -1;
-}
-
 int virDBusCallMethod(DBusConnection *conn ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                       DBusMessage **reply ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                       DBusError *error ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
diff --git a/src/util/virdbus.h b/src/util/virdbus.h
index a4987b8adc..d0c7de29dc 100644
--- a/src/util/virdbus.h
+++ b/src/util/virdbus.h
@@ -68,10 +68,6 @@ int virDBusCallMethod(DBusConnection *conn,
                       const char *iface,
                       const char *member,
                       const char *types, ...);
-int virDBusCall(DBusConnection *conn,
-                DBusMessage *call,
-                DBusMessage **reply,
-                DBusError *error);
 int virDBusMessageRead(DBusMessage *msg,
                        const char *types, ...);
 void virDBusMessageUnref(DBusMessage *msg);