diff --git a/proxmox-api-macro/src/api_macro.rs b/proxmox-api-macro/src/api_macro.rs
index 615b4ee7..c5529c10 100644
--- a/proxmox-api-macro/src/api_macro.rs
+++ b/proxmox-api-macro/src/api_macro.rs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ pub fn api_macro(attr: TokenStream, item: TokenStream) -> Result<TokenStream, Er
 
     let definition = match definition {
         TokenTree::Group(ref group) if group.delimiter() == Delimiter::Brace => group.stream(),
-        _ => c_bail!(definition.span() => "expected api definition in braces"),
+        _ => c_bail!(definition => "expected api definition in braces"),
     };
 
     let def_span = definition.span();
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ pub fn api_macro(attr: TokenStream, item: TokenStream) -> Result<TokenStream, Er
 
     // Now parse the item, based on which we decide whether this is an API method which needs a
     // wrapper, or an API type which needs an ApiType implementation!
-    let item: syn::Item = syn::parse2(item).unwrap();
+    let mut item: syn::Item = syn::parse2(item).unwrap();
 
     match item {
         syn::Item::Struct(ref itemstruct) => {
@@ -34,13 +34,13 @@ pub fn api_macro(attr: TokenStream, item: TokenStream) -> Result<TokenStream, Er
             Ok(output)
         }
         syn::Item::Fn(func) => handle_function(def_span, definition, func),
-        syn::Item::Enum(ref itemenum) => {
+        syn::Item::Enum(ref mut itemenum) => {
             let extra = handle_enum(definition, itemenum)?;
             let mut output = item.into_token_stream();
             output.extend(extra);
             Ok(output)
         }
-        _ => c_bail!(item.span() => "api macro currently only applies to structs and functions"),
+        _ => c_bail!(item => "api macro currently only applies to structs and functions"),
     }
 }
 
@@ -573,7 +573,7 @@ fn handle_named_struct_fields(
 ///
 /// For enums we automatically implement `ToString`, `FromStr`, and derive `Serialize` and
 /// `Deserialize` via `serde_plain`.
-fn handle_enum(mut definition: Object, item: &syn::ItemEnum) -> Result<TokenStream, Error> {
+fn handle_enum(mut definition: Object, item: &mut syn::ItemEnum) -> Result<TokenStream, Error> {
     if item.generics.lt_token.is_some() {
         c_bail!(
             item.generics.span(),
@@ -588,7 +588,7 @@ fn handle_enum(mut definition: Object, item: &syn::ItemEnum) -> Result<TokenStre
     let mut display_entries = TokenStream::new();
     let mut from_str_entries = TokenStream::new();
 
-    for variant in item.variants.iter() {
+    for variant in item.variants.iter_mut() {
         if variant.fields != syn::Fields::Unit {
             c_bail!(variant.span(), "#[api] enums cannot have fields");
         }
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ fn handle_enum(mut definition: Object, item: &syn::ItemEnum) -> Result<TokenStre
     let apidef = ParameterDefinition::from_object(definition)?;
 
     if let Some(validate) = apidef.validate {
-        c_bail!(validate.span() => "validators are not allowed on enum types");
+        c_bail!(validate => "validators are not allowed on enum types");
     }
 
     let description = common.description;
diff --git a/proxmox-api-macro/src/error.rs b/proxmox-api-macro/src/error.rs
deleted file mode 100644
index e1f298f7..00000000
--- a/proxmox-api-macro/src/error.rs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-#[derive(Debug)]
-pub struct CompileError {
-    pub tokens: proc_macro::TokenStream,
-}
-
-unsafe impl Send for CompileError {}
-unsafe impl Sync for CompileError {}
-
-impl std::fmt::Display for CompileError {
-    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter) -> std::fmt::Result {
-        write!(f, "generic compile error")
-    }
-}
-
-impl std::error::Error for CompileError {}
-
-macro_rules! c_format_err {
-    ($span:expr => $($msg:tt)*) => {
-        crate::error::CompileError {
-            tokens: ::quote::quote_spanned! { $span => compile_error!($($msg)*); }.into()
-        }
-    };
-    ($span:expr, $($msg:tt)*) => { c_format_err!($span => $($msg)*) }
-}
-
-macro_rules! c_bail {
-    ($span:expr => $($msg:tt)*) => {
-        return Err(c_format_err!($span => $($msg)*).into());
-    };
-    ($span:expr, $($msg:tt)*) => { c_bail!($span => $($msg)*) }
-}
diff --git a/proxmox-api-macro/src/lib.rs b/proxmox-api-macro/src/lib.rs
index 3d0258eb..88f97239 100644
--- a/proxmox-api-macro/src/lib.rs
+++ b/proxmox-api-macro/src/lib.rs
@@ -6,19 +6,18 @@ extern crate proc_macro2;
 use proc_macro::TokenStream;
 
 #[macro_use]
-mod error;
+mod util;
 
 mod api_def;
 mod parsing;
 mod types;
-mod util;
 
 mod api_macro;
 mod router_macro;
 
 fn handle_error(kind: &'static str, err: failure::Error) -> TokenStream {
-    match err.downcast::<error::CompileError>() {
-        Ok(err) => err.tokens,
+    match err.downcast::<syn::Error>() {
+        Ok(err) => err.to_compile_error().into(),
         Err(err) => panic!("error in {}: {}", kind, err),
     }
 }
diff --git a/proxmox-api-macro/src/parsing.rs b/proxmox-api-macro/src/parsing.rs
index 1a35afec..bf7d9cb6 100644
--- a/proxmox-api-macro/src/parsing.rs
+++ b/proxmox-api-macro/src/parsing.rs
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ pub fn parse_object(tokens: TokenStream) -> Result<Object, Error> {
         let value = parse_object_value(&mut tokens, &key)?;
 
         if out.insert(key.clone(), value).is_some() {
-            c_bail!(key.span() => "duplicate entry: {}", key.as_str());
+            c_bail!(key.span(), "duplicate entry: {}", key.as_str());
         }
     }
 
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ fn parse_object_value(tokens: &mut TokenIter, key: &Name) -> Result<Expression,
             Some(token) => token,
             None => {
                 if first {
-                    c_bail!(key.span(), "missing value after key '{}'", key.as_str());
+                    c_bail!(key => "missing value after key '{}'", key.as_str());
                 }
                 break;
             }
diff --git a/proxmox-api-macro/src/util.rs b/proxmox-api-macro/src/util.rs
index 299d966f..74857dc4 100644
--- a/proxmox-api-macro/src/util.rs
+++ b/proxmox-api-macro/src/util.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,19 @@
+use proc_macro2::Ident;
+
+use syn::Token;
+use syn::parse::{Parse, ParseStream};
+use syn::punctuated::Punctuated;
+
+macro_rules! c_format_err {
+    ($span:expr => $($msg:tt)*) => { syn::Error::new_spanned($span, format!($($msg)*)) };
+    ($span:expr, $($msg:tt)*) => { syn::Error::new($span, format!($($msg)*)) };
+}
+
+macro_rules! c_bail {
+    ($span:expr => $($msg:tt)*) => { return Err(c_format_err!($span => $($msg)*).into()) };
+    ($span:expr, $($msg:tt)*) => { return Err(c_format_err!($span, $($msg)*).into()) };
+}
+
 /// Convert `this_kind_of_text` to `ThisKindOfText`.
 pub fn to_camel_case(text: &str) -> String {
     let mut out = String::new();