diff --git a/include/sysemu/numa.h b/include/sysemu/numa.h
index eae881e453..d25ada9119 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/numa.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/numa.h
@@ -20,6 +20,5 @@ void set_numa_nodes(void);
 void set_numa_modes(void);
 void query_numa_node_mem(uint64_t node_mem[]);
 extern QemuOptsList qemu_numa_opts;
-int numa_init_func(QemuOpts *opts, void *opaque);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/numa.c b/numa.c
index 84d4cb5d13..eb9259b66a 100644
--- a/numa.c
+++ b/numa.c
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 #include "sysemu/hostmem.h"
 #include "qmp-commands.h"
 #include "hw/mem/pc-dimm.h"
+#include "qemu/option.h"
+#include "qemu/config-file.h"
 
 QemuOptsList qemu_numa_opts = {
     .name = "numa",
@@ -121,7 +123,7 @@ static void numa_node_parse(NumaNodeOptions *node, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
     max_numa_nodeid = MAX(max_numa_nodeid, nodenr + 1);
 }
 
-int numa_init_func(QemuOpts *opts, void *opaque)
+static int numa_init_func(QemuOpts *opts, void *opaque)
 {
     NumaOptions *object = NULL;
     Error *err = NULL;
@@ -168,6 +170,11 @@ void set_numa_nodes(void)
 {
     int i;
 
+    if (qemu_opts_foreach(qemu_find_opts("numa"), numa_init_func,
+                          NULL, 1) != 0) {
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
     assert(max_numa_nodeid <= MAX_NODES);
 
     /* No support for sparse NUMA node IDs yet: */
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 52e9f2cacd..6db7724262 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -4157,11 +4157,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     default_drive(default_floppy, snapshot, IF_FLOPPY, 0, FD_OPTS);
     default_drive(default_sdcard, snapshot, IF_SD, 0, SD_OPTS);
 
-    if (qemu_opts_foreach(qemu_find_opts("numa"), numa_init_func,
-                          NULL, 1) != 0) {
-        exit(1);
-    }
-
     set_numa_nodes();
 
     if (qemu_opts_foreach(qemu_find_opts("mon"), mon_init_func, NULL, 1) != 0) {