diff --git a/event.c b/event.c
index 41d63e35..99f58564 100644
--- a/event.c
+++ b/event.c
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ gettime(struct timeval *tp)
 	return (gettimeofday(tp, NULL));
 }
 
-void *
+struct event_base *
 event_init(void)
 {
 	int i;
diff --git a/event.h b/event.h
index 0ff8fd5f..68efab93 100644
--- a/event.h
+++ b/event.h
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ struct eventop {
   The event API needs to be initialized with event_init() before it can be
   used.
  */
-void *event_init(void);
+struct event_base *event_init(void);
 
 
 /**