diff --git a/glib/gerror.c b/glib/gerror.c
index 61817fa7b..7ac85fc66 100644
--- a/glib/gerror.c
+++ b/glib/gerror.c
@@ -755,13 +755,14 @@ g_error_new_valist (GQuark       domain,
                     const gchar *format,
                     va_list      args)
 {
+  g_return_val_if_fail (format != NULL, NULL);
+
   /* Historically, GError allowed this (although it was never meant to work),
    * and it has significant use in the wild, which g_return_val_if_fail
    * would break. It should maybe g_return_val_if_fail in GLib 4.
    * (GNOME#660371, GNOME#560482)
    */
   g_warn_if_fail (domain != 0);
-  g_warn_if_fail (format != NULL);
 
   return g_error_new_steal (domain, code, g_strdup_vprintf (format, args), NULL);
 }
@@ -887,9 +888,10 @@ g_error_copy (const GError *error)
   ErrorDomainInfo info;
 
   g_return_val_if_fail (error != NULL, NULL);
-  /* See g_error_new_valist for why these don't return */
+  g_return_val_if_fail (error->message != NULL, NULL);
+
+  /* See g_error_new_valist for why this doesn’t return */
   g_warn_if_fail (error->domain != 0);
-  g_warn_if_fail (error->message != NULL);
 
   copy = g_error_new_steal (error->domain,
                             error->code,
diff --git a/glib/tests/error.c b/glib/tests/error.c
index fa3a25969..8dd40aa56 100644
--- a/glib/tests/error.c
+++ b/glib/tests/error.c
@@ -129,17 +129,6 @@ test_new_valist_invalid_va (gpointer dummy,
    * g_error_new_valist() with a %NULL format will crash on FreeBSD as its
    * implementation of vasprintf() is less forgiving than Linux’s. That’s
    * fine: it’s a programmer error in either case. */
-  const struct
-    {
-      GQuark domain;
-      const gchar *format;
-    }
-  tests[] =
-    {
-      { G_MARKUP_ERROR, NULL },
-      { 0, "Message" },
-    };
-  gsize i;
 
   g_test_summary ("Test that g_error_new_valist() rejects invalid input");
 
@@ -149,13 +138,32 @@ test_new_valist_invalid_va (gpointer dummy,
       return;
     }
 
-  for (i = 0; i < G_N_ELEMENTS (tests); i++)
+    {
+      GError *error = NULL;
+      va_list ap;
+
+      va_start (ap, dummy);
+
+#pragma GCC diagnostic push
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wformat-nonliteral"
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wformat-extra-args"
+
+      g_test_expect_message (G_LOG_DOMAIN,
+                             G_LOG_LEVEL_CRITICAL,
+                             "*g_error_new_valist: assertion 'format != NULL' failed*");
+      error = g_error_new_valist (G_MARKUP_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR_EMPTY, NULL, ap);
+      g_test_assert_expected_messages ();
+      g_assert_null (error);
+
+#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
+
+      va_end (ap);
+    }
+
     {
       GError *error = NULL, *error_copy = NULL;
       va_list ap;
 
-      g_test_message ("Test %" G_GSIZE_FORMAT, i);
-
       va_start (ap, dummy);
 
 #pragma GCC diagnostic push
@@ -164,7 +172,7 @@ test_new_valist_invalid_va (gpointer dummy,
       g_test_expect_message (G_LOG_DOMAIN,
                              G_LOG_LEVEL_WARNING,
                              "*g_error_new_valist: runtime check failed*");
-      error = g_error_new_valist (tests[i].domain, G_MARKUP_ERROR_EMPTY, tests[i].format, ap);
+      error = g_error_new_valist (0, G_MARKUP_ERROR_EMPTY, "Message", ap);
       g_test_assert_expected_messages ();
       g_assert_nonnull (error);