diff --git a/build-aux/syntax-check.mk b/build-aux/syntax-check.mk
index 8de82e9872..7e7c59c3df 100644
--- a/build-aux/syntax-check.mk
+++ b/build-aux/syntax-check.mk
@@ -611,7 +611,7 @@ sc_forbid_manual_xml_indent:
 # dirname and basename from <libgen.h> are not required to be thread-safe
 sc_prohibit_libgen:
 	@prohibit='( (base|dir)name *\(|include .libgen\.h)' \
-	halt='use functions from gnulib "dirname.h", not <libgen.h>' \
+	halt='use functions from GLib, not <libgen.h>' \
 	  $(_sc_search_regexp)
 
 # raw xmlGetProp requires some nasty casts
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index a8137b3a32..11d3c29297 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 #include "qemu_slirp.h"
 #include "qemu_block.h"
 #include "cpu/cpu.h"
-#include "dirname.h"
 #include "viralloc.h"
 #include "virlog.h"
 #include "virarch.h"
diff --git a/src/storage/storage_driver.c b/src/storage/storage_driver.c
index 72ba252543..6bbf52f729 100644
--- a/src/storage/storage_driver.c
+++ b/src/storage/storage_driver.c
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@
 #include "virsecret.h"
 #include "virstring.h"
 #include "viraccessapicheck.h"
-//#include "dirname.h"
 #include "storage_util.h"
 
 #define VIR_FROM_THIS VIR_FROM_STORAGE
diff --git a/tests/virstoragetest.c b/tests/virstoragetest.c
index b9d4a45cdd..0e274ad1b7 100644
--- a/tests/virstoragetest.c
+++ b/tests/virstoragetest.c
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 #include "virlog.h"
 #include "virstoragefile.h"
 #include "virstring.h"
-#include "dirname.h"
 
 #include "storage/storage_driver.h"