diff --git a/src/common/libflux/event.c b/src/common/libflux/event.c
index 060cdf03bca6..b3887841ad7d 100644
--- a/src/common/libflux/event.c
+++ b/src/common/libflux/event.c
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ static flux_msg_t *flux_event_vencodef (const char *topic,
     flux_msg_t *msg = flux_event_create (topic);
     if (!msg)
         goto error;
-    if (flux_msg_vset_jsonf (msg, fmt, ap) < 0)
+    if (flux_msg_vpack (msg, fmt, ap) < 0)
         goto error;
     return msg;
 error:
diff --git a/src/common/libflux/message.c b/src/common/libflux/message.c
index 160a3ca7a9e2..0cb96ac01fb7 100644
--- a/src/common/libflux/message.c
+++ b/src/common/libflux/message.c
@@ -1025,7 +1025,7 @@ int flux_msg_set_payload (flux_msg_t *msg, int flags, const void *buf, int size)
     return rc;
 }
 
-int flux_msg_vset_jsonf (flux_msg_t *msg, const char *fmt, va_list ap)
+int flux_msg_vpack (flux_msg_t *msg, const char *fmt, va_list ap)
 {
     json_error_t error;
     char *json_str = NULL;
@@ -1056,7 +1056,7 @@ int flux_msg_pack (flux_msg_t *msg, const char *fmt, ...)
     int rc;
 
     va_start (ap, fmt);
-    rc = flux_msg_vset_jsonf (msg, fmt, ap);
+    rc = flux_msg_vpack (msg, fmt, ap);
     va_end (ap);
     return rc;
 }
diff --git a/src/common/libflux/message.h b/src/common/libflux/message.h
index 28ad0e583436..df73e7e64a6e 100644
--- a/src/common/libflux/message.h
+++ b/src/common/libflux/message.h
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ bool flux_msg_has_payload (const flux_msg_t *msg);
  */
 int flux_msg_set_json (flux_msg_t *msg, const char *json_str);
 int flux_msg_pack (flux_msg_t *msg, const char *fmt, ...);
-int flux_msg_vset_jsonf (flux_msg_t *msg, const char *fmt, va_list ap);
+int flux_msg_vpack (flux_msg_t *msg, const char *fmt, va_list ap);
 
 int flux_msg_get_json (const flux_msg_t *msg, const char **json_str);
 int flux_msg_get_jsonf (const flux_msg_t *msg, const char *fmt, ...);
diff --git a/src/common/libflux/mrpc.c b/src/common/libflux/mrpc.c
index 4bf495c28ed6..76427cd0ca10 100644
--- a/src/common/libflux/mrpc.c
+++ b/src/common/libflux/mrpc.c
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ flux_mrpc_t *flux_mrpcf (flux_t *h,
     va_start (ap, fmt);
     if (!(msg = flux_request_encode (topic, NULL)))
         goto done;
-    if (flux_msg_vset_jsonf (msg, fmt, ap) < 0)
+    if (flux_msg_vpack (msg, fmt, ap) < 0)
         goto done;
     rc = mrpc (h, nodeset, flags, msg);
 done:
diff --git a/src/common/libflux/response.c b/src/common/libflux/response.c
index 710ed3bb2d8a..d9a8bff69220 100644
--- a/src/common/libflux/response.c
+++ b/src/common/libflux/response.c
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ static int flux_vrespondf (flux_t *h, const flux_msg_t *request,
     flux_msg_t *msg = derive_response (h, request, 0);
     if (!msg)
         goto fatal;
-    if (flux_msg_vset_jsonf (msg, fmt, ap) < 0)
+    if (flux_msg_vpack (msg, fmt, ap) < 0)
         goto fatal;
     if (flux_send (h, msg, 0) < 0)
         goto fatal;
diff --git a/src/common/libflux/rpc.c b/src/common/libflux/rpc.c
index e0905bfe4fa3..cfdc7e4b91fa 100644
--- a/src/common/libflux/rpc.c
+++ b/src/common/libflux/rpc.c
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ static flux_future_t *flux_vrpcf (flux_t *h,
 
     if (!(msg = flux_request_encode (topic, NULL)))
         goto done;
-    if (flux_msg_vset_jsonf (msg, fmt, ap) < 0)
+    if (flux_msg_vpack (msg, fmt, ap) < 0)
         goto done;
     f = flux_rpc_msg (h, nodeid, flags, msg);
 done: