diff --git a/include/sdbusplus/exception.hpp b/include/sdbusplus/exception.hpp
index 65f85c1..2977d4d 100644
--- a/include/sdbusplus/exception.hpp
+++ b/include/sdbusplus/exception.hpp
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 {
     virtual const char* name() const noexcept = 0;
     virtual const char* description() const noexcept = 0;
-    virtual int get_errno() const noexcept;
+    virtual int get_errno() const noexcept = 0;
 };
 
 /** base exception class for all errors created by the sdbus++ generator */
diff --git a/src/exception.cpp b/src/exception.cpp
index 4fa5135..df0baa5 100644
--- a/src/exception.cpp
+++ b/src/exception.cpp
@@ -14,11 +14,6 @@
 namespace exception
 {
 
-int exception::get_errno() const noexcept
-{
-    return EIO;
-}
-
 int generated_exception::get_errno() const noexcept
 {
     return EIO;