diff --git a/src/util/virstring.h b/src/util/virstring.h
index 607ae66e99..726e02b98c 100644
--- a/src/util/virstring.h
+++ b/src/util/virstring.h
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@
 # include <stdarg.h>
 
 # include "internal.h"
+# include "viralloc.h"
+
+typedef char *virString;
 
 char **virStringSplitCount(const char *string,
                            const char *delim,
@@ -309,4 +312,6 @@ int virStringParsePort(const char *str,
                        unsigned int *port)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 
+VIR_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_FUNC(virString, virStringListFree)
+
 #endif /* __VIR_STRING_H__ */