diff --git a/Makefile.objs b/Makefile.objs
index 5ebbcfa171..8454b536cf 100644
--- a/Makefile.objs
+++ b/Makefile.objs
@@ -211,6 +211,7 @@ common-obj-$(CONFIG_SMARTCARD_NSS) += $(libcacard-y)
 # qapi
 
 qapi-obj-y = qapi/
+qapi-obj-y += qapi-types.o qapi-visit.o
 
 common-obj-y += qmp-marshal.o qapi-visit.o qapi-types.o
 common-obj-y += qmp.o hmp.o
diff --git a/qapi/qmp-core.h b/qapi/qmp-core.h
index b0f64ba1ee..00446cff9b 100644
--- a/qapi/qmp-core.h
+++ b/qapi/qmp-core.h
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ void qmp_disable_command(const char *name);
 void qmp_enable_command(const char *name);
 bool qmp_command_is_enabled(const char *name);
 char **qmp_get_command_list(void);
+QObject *qmp_build_error_object(Error *errp);
 
 #endif
 
diff --git a/qapi/qmp-dispatch.c b/qapi/qmp-dispatch.c
index 122c1a29ba..ec613f88b5 100644
--- a/qapi/qmp-dispatch.c
+++ b/qapi/qmp-dispatch.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include "qemu-objects.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp-core.h"
 #include "json-parser.h"
+#include "qapi-types.h"
 #include "error.h"
 #include "error_int.h"
 #include "qerror.h"
@@ -109,6 +110,13 @@ static QObject *do_qmp_dispatch(QObject *request, Error **errp)
     return ret;
 }
 
+QObject *qmp_build_error_object(Error *errp)
+{
+    return qobject_from_jsonf("{ 'class': %s, 'desc': %s }",
+                              ErrorClass_lookup[error_get_class(errp)],
+                              error_get_pretty(errp));
+}
+
 QObject *qmp_dispatch(QObject *request)
 {
     Error *err = NULL;
@@ -119,7 +127,7 @@ QObject *qmp_dispatch(QObject *request)
 
     rsp = qdict_new();
     if (err) {
-        qdict_put_obj(rsp, "error", error_get_qobject(err));
+        qdict_put_obj(rsp, "error", qmp_build_error_object(err));
         error_free(err);
     } else if (ret) {
         qdict_put_obj(rsp, "return", ret);
diff --git a/qemu-ga.c b/qemu-ga.c
index f1a39ec3a6..39abc50e89 100644
--- a/qemu-ga.c
+++ b/qemu-ga.c
@@ -515,7 +515,7 @@ static void process_event(JSONMessageParser *parser, QList *tokens)
         } else {
             g_warning("failed to parse event: %s", error_get_pretty(err));
         }
-        qdict_put_obj(qdict, "error", error_get_qobject(err));
+        qdict_put_obj(qdict, "error", qmp_build_error_object(err));
         error_free(err);
     } else {
         qdict = qobject_to_qdict(obj);
@@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ static void process_event(JSONMessageParser *parser, QList *tokens)
             qdict = qdict_new();
             g_warning("unrecognized payload format");
             error_set(&err, QERR_UNSUPPORTED);
-            qdict_put_obj(qdict, "error", error_get_qobject(err));
+            qdict_put_obj(qdict, "error", qmp_build_error_object(err));
             error_free(err);
         }
         ret = send_response(s, QOBJECT(qdict));