diff --git a/common/flatpak-dir.c b/common/flatpak-dir.c
index 4f30c2220..db9328daa 100644
--- a/common/flatpak-dir.c
+++ b/common/flatpak-dir.c
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include <gio/gio.h>
 #include "libgsystem.h"
 #include "libglnx/libglnx.h"
+#include "lib/flatpak-error.h"
 
 #include "flatpak-dir.h"
 #include "flatpak-utils.h"
diff --git a/common/flatpak-utils.c b/common/flatpak-utils.c
index c477329d5..f20b9e399 100644
--- a/common/flatpak-utils.c
+++ b/common/flatpak-utils.c
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include "config.h"
 
 #include "flatpak-utils.h"
+#include "lib/flatpak-error.h"
 #include "flatpak-dir.h"
 #include "flatpak-portal-error.h"
 
@@ -39,6 +40,9 @@
 #include "libglnx/libglnx.h"
 #include <libsoup/soup.h>
 
+/* This is also here so the common code can report these errors to the lib */
+G_DEFINE_QUARK (flatpak-error-quark, flatpak_error)
+
 GBytes *
 flatpak_read_stream (GInputStream *in,
                      gboolean      null_terminate,
diff --git a/lib/flatpak-error.c b/lib/flatpak-error.c
index c2b550bc3..781a9eb61 100644
--- a/lib/flatpak-error.c
+++ b/lib/flatpak-error.c
@@ -31,4 +31,4 @@
  *
  */
 
-G_DEFINE_QUARK (flatpak-error-quark, flatpak_error)
+/* This is actually defined in common/flatpak-utils.c so the common code can report errors */