diff --git a/src/wayland/meta-wayland-surface.c b/src/wayland/meta-wayland-surface.c
index 1dade0577..771154ac1 100644
--- a/src/wayland/meta-wayland-surface.c
+++ b/src/wayland/meta-wayland-surface.c
@@ -752,7 +752,8 @@ xdg_shell_use_unstable_version (struct wl_client *client,
                                 int32_t version)
 {
   if (version != XDG_SHELL_VERSION_CURRENT)
-    g_warning ("Bad xdg_shell version: %d", version);
+    wl_resource_post_error (resource, WL_DISPLAY_ERROR_INVALID_OBJECT,
+                            "bad xdg-shell version: %d\n", version);
 }
 
 static void