diff --git a/shared/meson.build b/shared/meson.build
index d05e2d46..9b5d7a50 100644
--- a/shared/meson.build
+++ b/shared/meson.build
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ srcs_libshared = [
 	'signal.c',
 	'file-util.c',
 	'os-compatibility.c',
-	'xalloc.c',
 ]
 deps_libshared = [dep_wayland_client, dep_wayland_server]
 
diff --git a/shared/xalloc.c b/shared/xalloc.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 1cc5c12a..00000000
--- a/shared/xalloc.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright © 2008 Kristian Høgsberg
- *
- * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
- * a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
- * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
- * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
- * distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
- * permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
- * the following conditions:
- *
- * The above copyright notice and this permission notice (including the
- * next paragraph) shall be included in all copies or substantial
- * portions of the Software.
- *
- * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
- * EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
- * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
- * NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
- * BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN
- * ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
- * CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
- * SOFTWARE.
- */
-
-#include "config.h"
-
-#include <errno.h>
-#include <stdint.h>
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include <stdlib.h>
-
-#include "xalloc.h"
-
-void *
-fail_on_null(void *p, size_t size, char *file, int32_t line)
-{
-	if (p == NULL) {
-		fprintf(stderr, "[%s] ", program_invocation_short_name);
-		if (file)
-			fprintf(stderr, "%s:%d: ", file, line);
-		fprintf(stderr, "out of memory");
-		if (size)
-			fprintf(stderr, " (%zd)", size);
-		fprintf(stderr, "\n");
-		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-	}
-
-	return p;
-}
diff --git a/shared/xalloc.h b/shared/xalloc.h
index cd39dd8b..15ad1fad 100644
--- a/shared/xalloc.h
+++ b/shared/xalloc.h
@@ -30,14 +30,30 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
+#include <errno.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
 #include <libweston/zalloc.h>
 
-void *
-fail_on_null(void *p, size_t size, char *file, int32_t line);
+
+static inline void *
+fail_on_null(void *p, size_t size, char *file, int32_t line)
+{
+	if (p == NULL) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "[%s] ", program_invocation_short_name);
+		if (file)
+			fprintf(stderr, "%s:%d: ", file, line);
+		fprintf(stderr, "out of memory");
+		if (size)
+			fprintf(stderr, " (%zd)", size);
+		fprintf(stderr, "\n");
+		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
+
+	return p;
+}
 
 #define xmalloc(s) (fail_on_null(malloc(s), (s), __FILE__, __LINE__))
 #define xzalloc(s) (fail_on_null(zalloc(s), (s), __FILE__, __LINE__))