diff --git a/include/net/net.h b/include/net/net.h
index c1c34a58f8..55023e7e9f 100644
--- a/include/net/net.h
+++ b/include/net/net.h
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ extern NICInfo nd_table[MAX_NICS];
 extern const char *host_net_devices[];
 
 /* from net.c */
-int net_client_parse(QemuOptsList *opts_list, const char *str);
+void net_client_parse(QemuOptsList *opts_list, const char *str);
 void show_netdevs(void);
 void net_init_clients(void);
 void net_check_clients(void);
diff --git a/net/net.c b/net/net.c
index 5e788802b1..178257abfd 100644
--- a/net/net.c
+++ b/net/net.c
@@ -1583,13 +1583,11 @@ void net_init_clients(void)
                       &error_fatal);
 }
 
-int net_client_parse(QemuOptsList *opts_list, const char *optarg)
+void net_client_parse(QemuOptsList *opts_list, const char *optarg)
 {
     if (!qemu_opts_parse_noisily(opts_list, optarg, true)) {
-        return -1;
+        exit(1);
     }
-
-    return 0;
 }
 
 /* From FreeBSD */
diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c
index a4ae131e4d..e69aa43de4 100644
--- a/softmmu/vl.c
+++ b/softmmu/vl.c
@@ -2801,21 +2801,15 @@ void qemu_init(int argc, char **argv)
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_netdev:
                 default_net = 0;
-                if (net_client_parse(qemu_find_opts("netdev"), optarg) == -1) {
-                    exit(1);
-                }
+                net_client_parse(qemu_find_opts("netdev"), optarg);
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_nic:
                 default_net = 0;
-                if (net_client_parse(qemu_find_opts("nic"), optarg) == -1) {
-                    exit(1);
-                }
+                net_client_parse(qemu_find_opts("nic"), optarg);
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_net:
                 default_net = 0;
-                if (net_client_parse(qemu_find_opts("net"), optarg) == -1) {
-                    exit(1);
-                }
+                net_client_parse(qemu_find_opts("net"), optarg);
                 break;
 #ifdef CONFIG_LIBISCSI
             case QEMU_OPTION_iscsi: