diff --git a/include/qemu/error-report.h b/include/qemu/error-report.h
index 3ae2357fda..dc423d3607 100644
--- a/include/qemu/error-report.h
+++ b/include/qemu/error-report.h
@@ -74,4 +74,10 @@ extern bool message_with_timestamp;
 extern bool error_with_guestname;
 extern const char *error_guest_name;
 
+/*
+ * Return current datetime in ISO 8601 format.
+ * Caller is responsible to g_free() the returned string.
+ */
+char *real_time_iso8601(void);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/util/error-report.c b/util/error-report.c
index 1b17c11de1..d6b7448183 100644
--- a/util/error-report.c
+++ b/util/error-report.c
@@ -169,8 +169,7 @@ static void print_loc(void)
     }
 }
 
-static char *
-real_time_iso8601(void)
+char *real_time_iso8601(void)
 {
     g_autoptr(GDateTime) dt = g_date_time_new_now_utc();
     return g_date_time_format_iso8601(dt);