diff --git a/include/qemu/pmem.h b/include/qemu/pmem.h
index d2d7ad085c..e12a67ba2c 100644
--- a/include/qemu/pmem.h
+++ b/include/qemu/pmem.h
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ pmem_memcpy_persist(void *pmemdest, const void *src, size_t len)
     /* If 'pmem' option is 'on', we should always have libpmem support,
        or qemu will report a error and exit, never come here. */
     g_assert_not_reached();
-    return NULL;
 }
 
 static inline void