diff --git a/demos/node-editor/node-editor-window.c b/demos/node-editor/node-editor-window.c
index 73cf2b06ec..ff536d60ca 100644
--- a/demos/node-editor/node-editor-window.c
+++ b/demos/node-editor/node-editor-window.c
@@ -102,12 +102,11 @@ text_buffer_remove_all_tags (GtkTextBuffer *buffer)
 }
 
 static void
-deserialize_error_func (const GtkCssSection *section,
-                        const GError        *error,
-                        gpointer             user_data)
+deserialize_error_func (const GskParseLocation *start_location,
+                        const GskParseLocation *end_location,
+                        const GError           *error,
+                        gpointer                user_data)
 {
-  const GtkCssLocation *start_location = gtk_css_section_get_start_location (section);
-  const GtkCssLocation *end_location = gtk_css_section_get_end_location (section);
   NodeEditorWindow *self = user_data;
   GtkTextIter start_iter, end_iter;
   TextViewError text_view_error;
diff --git a/gsk/gskrendernode.h b/gsk/gskrendernode.h
index dd655d3b35..683bf5d9ff 100644
--- a/gsk/gskrendernode.h
+++ b/gsk/gskrendernode.h
@@ -54,18 +54,31 @@ struct _GskShadow
   float radius;
 };
 
+typedef struct _GskParseLocation GskParseLocation;
+
+struct _GskParseLocation
+{
+  gsize bytes;
+  gsize chars;
+  gsize lines;
+  gsize line_bytes;
+  gsize line_chars;
+};
+
 /**
  * GskParseErrorFunc:
- * @section: the #GtkCssSection where the error occurred
- * @error:  the error
+ * @start: start of the error location
+ * @end: end of the error location
+ * @error: the error
  * @user_data: user data
  *
  * The type of callback that is called when a parse error occurs
  * during deserialization of node data.
  */
-typedef void           (* GskParseErrorFunc)                    (const GtkCssSection *section,
-                                                                 const GError        *error,
-                                                                 gpointer             user_data);
+typedef void           (* GskParseErrorFunc)                    (const GskParseLocation *start,
+                                                                 const GskParseLocation *end,
+                                                                 const GError           *error,
+                                                                 gpointer                user_data);
 
 GDK_AVAILABLE_IN_ALL
 GType                   gsk_render_node_get_type                (void) G_GNUC_CONST;
diff --git a/gsk/gskrendernodeparser.c b/gsk/gskrendernodeparser.c
index 320f74a13c..2be0a55393 100644
--- a/gsk/gskrendernodeparser.c
+++ b/gsk/gskrendernodeparser.c
@@ -1859,12 +1859,10 @@ gsk_render_node_parser_error (GtkCssParser         *parser,
   } *error_func_pair = user_data;
 
   if (error_func_pair->error_func)
-    {
-      GtkCssSection *section = gtk_css_section_new (gtk_css_parser_get_file (parser), start, end);
-
-      error_func_pair->error_func (section, error, error_func_pair->user_data);
-      gtk_css_section_unref (section);
-    }
+    error_func_pair->error_func ((const GskParseLocation *)start,
+                                 (const GskParseLocation *)end,
+                                 error,
+                                 error_func_pair->user_data);
 }
 
 GskRenderNode *
diff --git a/tests/rendernode.c b/tests/rendernode.c
index 786cc6d050..d0e3230663 100644
--- a/tests/rendernode.c
+++ b/tests/rendernode.c
@@ -14,15 +14,26 @@ static GOptionEntry options[] = {
 };
 
 static void
-deserialize_error_func (const GtkCssSection *section,
-                        const GError        *error,
-                        gpointer             user_data)
+deserialize_error_func (const GskParseLocation *start,
+                        const GskParseLocation *end,
+                        const GError           *error,
+                        gpointer                user_data)
 {
-  char *section_str = gtk_css_section_to_string (section);
+  GString *string = g_string_new ("<data>");
 
-  g_warning ("Error at %s: %s", section_str, error->message);
+  g_string_append_printf (string, ":%zu:%zu",
+                          start->lines + 1, start->line_chars + 1);
+  if (start->lines != end->lines || start->line_chars != end->line_chars)
+    {
+      g_string_append (string, "-");
+      if (start->lines != end->lines)
+        g_string_append_printf (string, "%zu:", end->lines + 1);
+      g_string_append_printf (string, "%zu", end->line_chars + 1);
+    }
 
-  g_free (section_str);
+  g_warning ("Error at %s: %s", string->str, error->message);
+
+  g_string_free (string, TRUE);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/tests/showrendernode.c b/tests/showrendernode.c
index 92bc6d40eb..5fafd3c00e 100644
--- a/tests/showrendernode.c
+++ b/tests/showrendernode.c
@@ -102,15 +102,26 @@ gtk_node_view_class_init (GtkNodeViewClass *klass)
 }
 
 static void
-deserialize_error_func (const GtkCssSection *section,
-                        const GError        *error,
-                        gpointer             user_data)
+deserialize_error_func (const GskParseLocation *start,
+                        const GskParseLocation *end,
+                        const GError           *error,
+                        gpointer                user_data)
 {
-  char *section_str = gtk_css_section_to_string (section);
+  GString *string = g_string_new ("<data>");
 
-  g_warning ("Error at %s: %s", section_str, error->message);
+  g_string_append_printf (string, ":%zu:%zu",
+                          start->lines + 1, start->line_chars + 1);
+  if (start->lines != end->lines || start->line_chars != end->line_chars)
+    {
+      g_string_append (string, "-");
+      if (start->lines != end->lines)
+        g_string_append_printf (string, "%zu:", end->lines + 1);
+      g_string_append_printf (string, "%zu", end->line_chars + 1);
+    }
 
-  g_free (section_str);
+  g_warning ("Error at %s: %s", string->str, error->message);
+
+  g_string_free (string, TRUE);
 }
 
 static void
diff --git a/testsuite/gsk/compare-render.c b/testsuite/gsk/compare-render.c
index c71ee55b7c..562a82e5d7 100644
--- a/testsuite/gsk/compare-render.c
+++ b/testsuite/gsk/compare-render.c
@@ -111,16 +111,26 @@ save_image (cairo_surface_t *surface,
 }
 
 static void
-deserialize_error_func (const GtkCssSection *section,
-                        const GError        *error,
-                        gpointer             user_data)
+deserialize_error_func (const GskParseLocation *start,
+                        const GskParseLocation *end,
+                        const GError           *error,
+                        gpointer                user_data)
 {
-  char *section_str = gtk_css_section_to_string (section);
+  GString *string = g_string_new ("<data>");
 
-  g_print ("Error at %s: %s", section_str, error->message);
-  *((gboolean *) user_data) = FALSE;
+  g_string_append_printf (string, ":%zu:%zu",
+                          start->lines + 1, start->line_chars + 1);
+  if (start->lines != end->lines || start->line_chars != end->line_chars)
+    {
+      g_string_append (string, "-");
+      if (start->lines != end->lines)
+        g_string_append_printf (string, "%zu:", end->lines + 1);
+      g_string_append_printf (string, "%zu", end->line_chars + 1);
+    }
 
-  free (section_str);
+  g_warning ("Error at %s: %s", string->str, error->message);
+
+  g_string_free (string, TRUE);
 }
 
 static const GOptionEntry options[] = {
diff --git a/testsuite/gsk/node-parser.c b/testsuite/gsk/node-parser.c
index cd3c930461..e7cf97887e 100644
--- a/testsuite/gsk/node-parser.c
+++ b/testsuite/gsk/node-parser.c
@@ -122,19 +122,26 @@ append_error_value (GString *string,
 }
 
 static void
-deserialize_error_func (const GtkCssSection *section,
-                        const GError        *error,
-                        gpointer             user_data)
+deserialize_error_func (const GskParseLocation *start,
+                        const GskParseLocation *end,
+                        const GError           *error,
+                        gpointer                user_data)
 {
   GString *errors = user_data;
-  char *section_string;
+  GString *string = g_string_new ("<data>");
 
-  section_string = gtk_css_section_to_string (section);
+  g_string_append_printf (string, ":%zu:%zu",
+                          start->lines + 1, start->line_chars + 1);
+  if (start->lines != end->lines || start->line_chars != end->line_chars)
+    {
+      g_string_append (string, "-");
+      if (start->lines != end->lines)
+        g_string_append_printf (string, "%zu:", end->lines + 1);
+      g_string_append_printf (string, "%zu", end->line_chars + 1);
+    }
 
-  g_string_append_printf (errors,
-                          "%s: error: ",
-                          section_string);
-  g_free (section_string);
+  g_string_append_printf (errors, "%s: error: ", string->str);
+  g_string_free (string, TRUE);
 
   if (error->domain == GTK_CSS_PARSER_ERROR)
     append_error_value (errors, GTK_TYPE_CSS_PARSER_ERROR, error->code);