diff --git a/hw/qxl.c b/hw/qxl.c
index 6e7232cee1..44ee49583f 100644
--- a/hw/qxl.c
+++ b/hw/qxl.c
@@ -768,8 +768,13 @@ static int interface_req_cursor_notification(QXLInstance *sin)
 /* called from spice server thread context */
 static void interface_notify_update(QXLInstance *sin, uint32_t update_id)
 {
-    fprintf(stderr, "%s: abort()\n", __FUNCTION__);
-    abort();
+    /*
+     * Called by spice-server as a result of a QXL_CMD_UPDATE which is not in
+     * use by xf86-video-qxl and is defined out in the qxl windows driver.
+     * Probably was at some earlier version that is prior to git start (2009),
+     * and is still guest trigerrable.
+     */
+    fprintf(stderr, "%s: deprecated\n", __func__);
 }
 
 /* called from spice server thread context only */