In the method networkGetDHCPLeases inside ./src/network/bridge_driver.c , we have: if (need_results && mac && !leases_ret) { virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, _("no lease with matching MAC address: %s"), mac); goto error; } Is this really required? In my opinion, since we are already filling rv with nleases (which will be 0, in case no lease corresponding to given mac is found), user will know that there is no result for his query. Why to report error? This results in: virsh # net-dhcp-leases --mac 00:50:56:c0:00:01 default error: Failed to get leases info for default error: internal error: no lease with matching MAC address: 00:50:56:c0:00:01 -- Nehal J Wani