diff --git a/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c b/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c
index 882fa57485..0f875f9e24 100644
--- a/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c
+++ b/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ struct _testQemuData {
     virQEMUDriver driver;
     const char *archName;
     const char *base;
+    int ret;
 };
 
 
@@ -46,6 +47,8 @@ testQemuDataInit(testQemuDataPtr data)
     if (qemuTestDriverInit(&data->driver) < 0)
         return -1;
 
+    data->ret = 0;
+
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -173,7 +176,6 @@ testQemuCapsCopy(const void *opaque)
 static int
 mymain(void)
 {
-    int ret = 0;
     testQemuData data;
 
 #if !WITH_YAJL
@@ -194,10 +196,10 @@ mymain(void)
         data.archName = arch; \
         data.base = name; \
         if (virTestRun(name "(" arch ")", testQemuCaps, &data) < 0) \
-            ret = -1; \
+            data.ret = -1; \
         if (virTestRun("copy " name "(" arch ")", \
                        testQemuCapsCopy, &data) < 0) \
-            ret = -1; \
+            data.ret = -1; \
     } while (0)
 
     /* Keep this in sync with qemucaps2xmltest */
@@ -248,7 +250,7 @@ mymain(void)
 
     testQemuDataReset(&data);
 
-    return (ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
+    return (data.ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
 
 VIR_TEST_MAIN(mymain)
diff --git a/tests/qemucaps2xmltest.c b/tests/qemucaps2xmltest.c
index 7b2335b91c..ff5da864be 100644
--- a/tests/qemucaps2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemucaps2xmltest.c
@@ -30,11 +30,14 @@ typedef testQemuData *testQemuDataPtr;
 struct _testQemuData {
     const char *base;
     const char *archName;
+    int ret;
 };
 
 static int
-testQemuDataInit(testQemuDataPtr data ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
+testQemuDataInit(testQemuDataPtr data)
 {
+    data->ret = 0;
+
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -168,8 +171,6 @@ testQemuCapsXML(const void *opaque)
 static int
 mymain(void)
 {
-    int ret = 0;
-
     testQemuData data;
 
 #if !WITH_YAJL
@@ -189,7 +190,7 @@ mymain(void)
     data.archName = arch; \
     data.base = name; \
     if (virTestRun(name "(" arch ")", testQemuCapsXML, &data) < 0) \
-        ret = -1
+        data.ret = -1
 
     /* Keep this in sync with qemucapabilitiestest */
     DO_TEST("x86_64", "caps_1.5.3");
@@ -229,7 +230,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("riscv64", "caps_3.0.0");
     DO_TEST("riscv64", "caps_4.0.0");
 
-    return (ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
+    return (data.ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
 
 VIR_TEST_MAIN_PRELOAD(mymain, abs_builddir "/.libs/qemucaps2xmlmock.so")