diff --git a/wireshark.h b/wireshark.h
index 3bf40cdb39..dcd426606a 100644
--- a/wireshark.h
+++ b/wireshark.h
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@
 #include <ws_symbol_export.h>
 #include <ws_version.h>
 
-#include <wsutil/wmem/wmem.h>
 #include <wsutil/ws_assert.h>
 #include <wsutil/wslog.h>
 
diff --git a/wsutil/CMakeLists.txt b/wsutil/CMakeLists.txt
index f5c2eb7853..57ca848826 100644
--- a/wsutil/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/wsutil/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ set(WSUTIL_PUBLIC_HEADERS
 	ws_mempbrk_int.h
 	ws_pipe.h
 	ws_roundup.h
+	ws_return.h
 	wsgcrypt.h
 	wsjson.h
 	wslog.h
diff --git a/wsutil/to_str.c b/wsutil/to_str.c
index 8aabf426b6..98ec094edc 100644
--- a/wsutil/to_str.c
+++ b/wsutil/to_str.c
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <wsutil/wslog.h>
 #include <wsutil/inet_addr.h>
 #include <wsutil/pint.h>
+#include <wsutil/ws_return.h>
 
 /*
  * If a user _does_ pass in a too-small buffer, this is probably
diff --git a/wsutil/ws_return.h b/wsutil/ws_return.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6f4034b6f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wsutil/ws_return.h
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/*
+ * Wireshark - Network traffic analyzer
+ * By Gerald Combs <gerald@wireshark.org>
+ * Copyright 1998 Gerald Combs
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
+ */
+
+#ifndef __WS_RETURN_H__
+#define __WS_RETURN_H__
+
+#include <wsutil/wslog.h>
+#include <wsutil/wmem/wmem.h>
+
+#define ws_warn_zero_len() ws_warning("Zero length passed to %s", __func__)
+
+#define ws_warn_null_ptr() ws_warning("Null pointer passed to %s", __func__)
+
+
+#define ws_return_str_if_zero(scope, len) \
+        do { \
+            if (!(len)) { \
+                ws_warn_zero_len(); \
+                return wmem_strdup(scope, "(zero length)"); \
+            } \
+        } while (0)
+
+
+#define ws_return_str_if_null(scope, ptr) \
+        do { \
+            if (!(ptr)) { \
+                ws_warn_null_ptr(); \
+                return wmem_strdup(scope, "(null pointer)"); \
+            } \
+        } while (0)
+
+
+#define ws_return_ptr_if_null(ptr, val) \
+        do { \
+            if (!(ptr)) { \
+                ws_warn_null_ptr(); \
+                return (val); \
+            } \
+        } while (0)
+
+#endif /* WS_RETURN_H_ */
diff --git a/wsutil/wslog.h b/wsutil/wslog.h
index 6f1333e030..5a074c256b 100644
--- a/wsutil/wslog.h
+++ b/wsutil/wslog.h
@@ -11,16 +11,15 @@
 #ifndef __WSLOG_H__
 #define __WSLOG_H__
 
-#include <glib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <time.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
+#include <glib.h>
 
-#include <wireshark.h>
+#include <ws_symbol_export.h>
+#include <ws_attributes.h>
 #include <ws_log_defs.h>
 
-#include <wsutil/wmem/wmem.h>
-
 #ifdef WS_LOG_DOMAIN
 #define _LOG_DOMAIN WS_LOG_DOMAIN
 #else
@@ -297,38 +296,6 @@ void ws_logv_full(const char *domain, enum ws_log_level level,
 #define ws_noisy(...)    _LOG_DEBUG(LOG_LEVEL_NOISY, __VA_ARGS__)
 
 
-#define ws_warn_zero_len() ws_warning("Zero length passed to %s", __func__)
-
-#define ws_warn_null_ptr() ws_warning("Null pointer passed to %s", __func__)
-
-
-#define ws_return_str_if_zero(scope, len) \
-        do { \
-            if (!(len)) { \
-                ws_warn_zero_len(); \
-                return wmem_strdup(scope, "(zero length)"); \
-            } \
-        } while (0)
-
-
-#define ws_return_str_if_null(scope, ptr) \
-        do { \
-            if (!(ptr)) { \
-                ws_warn_null_ptr(); \
-                return wmem_strdup(scope, "(null pointer)"); \
-            } \
-        } while (0)
-
-
-#define ws_return_ptr_if_null(ptr, val) \
-        do { \
-            if (!(ptr)) { \
-                ws_warn_null_ptr(); \
-                return (val); \
-            } \
-        } while (0)
-
-
 /** This function is called to log a buffer (bytes array).
  *
  * Accepts an optional 'msg' argument to provide a description.