diff --git a/lib/vtls/gtls.c b/lib/vtls/gtls.c
index f42b6d6691..b95c5be3c5 100644
--- a/lib/vtls/gtls.c
+++ b/lib/vtls/gtls.c
@@ -818,16 +818,17 @@ Curl_gtls_verifyserver(struct Curl_easy *data,
   char certname[65] = ""; /* limited to 64 chars by ASN.1 */
   size_t size;
   time_t certclock;
-  const char *ptr;
   int rc;
   CURLcode result = CURLE_OK;
 #ifndef CURL_DISABLE_VERBOSE_STRINGS
+  const char *ptr;
   unsigned int algo;
   unsigned int bits;
   gnutls_protocol_t version = gnutls_protocol_get_version(session);
 #endif
   long * const certverifyresult = &ssl_config->certverifyresult;
 
+#ifndef CURL_DISABLE_VERBOSE_STRINGS
   /* the name of the cipher suite used, e.g. ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384. */
   ptr = gnutls_cipher_suite_get_name(gnutls_kx_get(session),
                                      gnutls_cipher_get(session),
@@ -835,6 +836,7 @@ Curl_gtls_verifyserver(struct Curl_easy *data,
 
   infof(data, "SSL connection using %s / %s",
         gnutls_protocol_get_name(version), ptr);
+#endif
 
   /* This function will return the peer's raw certificate (chain) as sent by
      the peer. These certificates are in raw format (DER encoded for