diff --git a/src/fileio.c b/src/fileio.c
index 52ca8b6297e..2f8358f01b5 100644
--- a/src/fileio.c
+++ b/src/fileio.c
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ report_file_error (char const *string, Lisp_Object name)
   report_file_errno (string, name, errno);
 }
 
+#ifdef USE_FILE_NOTIFY
 /* Like report_file_error, but reports a file-notify-error instead.  */
 
 void
@@ -238,6 +239,7 @@ report_file_notify_error (const char *string, Lisp_Object name)
 
   xsignal (Qfile_notify_error, Fcons (build_string (string), errdata));
 }
+#endif
 
 void
 close_file_unwind (int fd)