diff --git a/src/libutil/error.hh b/src/libutil/error.hh
index 88980afb7..1acc70d9d 100644
--- a/src/libutil/error.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/error.hh
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ using std::endl;
 
 namespace nix {
 
-enum ErrLevel 
+typedef enum  
   { elWarning
   , elError
-  };
+  } ErrLevel;
 
 class ColumnRange { 
   public:
diff --git a/tests/errors/main.cc b/tests/errors/main.cc
index 39adc2ece..ffce334b7 100644
--- a/tests/errors/main.cc
+++ b/tests/errors/main.cc
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ int main()
 
   printErrorInfo(StandardError()
                 .name("name")
-                .description("description")
+                .description("error description")
                 .nohint()
                 );