diff --git a/include/local.h b/include/local.h
index 2498cd26..fec332e5 100644
--- a/include/local.h
+++ b/include/local.h
@@ -274,9 +274,9 @@ size_t snd_strlcat(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size);
  */
 #ifndef NDEBUG
 #define CHECK_SANITY(x) x
-extern snd_lib_error_handler_t snd_err_msg;
-#define SNDMSG(args...) snd_err_msg(__FILE__, __LINE__, __func__, 0, ##args)
-#define SYSMSG(args...) snd_err_msg(__FILE__, __LINE__, __func__, errno, ##args)
+extern snd_lib_error_handler_t _snd_err_msg;
+#define SNDMSG(args...) _snd_err_msg(__FILE__, __LINE__, __func__, 0, ##args)
+#define SYSMSG(args...) _snd_err_msg(__FILE__, __LINE__, __func__, errno, ##args)
 #else
 #define CHECK_SANITY(x) 0 /* not evaluated */
 #define SNDMSG(args...) /* nop */
diff --git a/src/error.c b/src/error.c
index 8db7556b..0eefce0e 100644
--- a/src/error.c
+++ b/src/error.c
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ int snd_lib_error_set_handler(snd_lib_error_handler_t handler)
 	snd_lib_error = handler == NULL ? snd_lib_error_default : handler;
 #ifndef NDEBUG
 	if (snd_lib_error != snd_lib_error_default)
-		snd_err_msg = snd_lib_error;
+		_snd_err_msg = snd_lib_error;
 #endif
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ static void snd_err_msg_default(const char *file, int line, const char *function
 /**
  * The ALSA error message handler
  */
-snd_lib_error_handler_t snd_err_msg = snd_err_msg_default;
+snd_lib_error_handler_t _snd_err_msg = snd_err_msg_default;
 
 #endif