diff --git a/src/ckpool.c b/src/ckpool.c
index 7eb3e2da..a54c68b4 100644
--- a/src/ckpool.c
+++ b/src/ckpool.c
@@ -718,17 +718,12 @@ out:
 
 /* Send a single message to a process instance when there will be no response,
  * closing the socket immediately. */
-void _send_proc(proc_instance_t *pi, const char *msg, const char *file, const char *func, const int line)
+void _send_proc_data(proc_instance_t *pi, const char *msg, const char *file, const char *func, const int line)
 {
 	char *path = pi->us.path;
 	bool ret = false;
 	int sockd;
 
-	if (unlikely(!msg || !strlen(msg))) {
-		LOGERR("Attempted to send null message to %s in send_proc", pi->processname);
-		return;
-	}
-
 	if (unlikely(!path || !strlen(path))) {
 		LOGERR("Attempted to send message %s to null path in send_proc", msg ? msg : "");
 		goto out;
@@ -763,6 +758,16 @@ out:
 		LOGERR("Failure in send_proc from %s %s:%d", file, func, line);
 }
 
+/* As per send_proc_data but must be a string */
+void _send_proc(proc_instance_t *pi, const char *msg, const char *file, const char *func, const int line)
+{
+	if (unlikely(!msg || !strlen(msg))) {
+		LOGERR("Attempted to send null message to %s in send_proc", pi->processname);
+		return;
+	}
+	return _send_proc_data(pi, msg, file, func, line);
+}
+
 /* Send a single message to a process instance and retrieve the response, then
  * close the socket. */
 char *_send_recv_proc(proc_instance_t *pi, const char *msg, int writetimeout, int readtimedout,
diff --git a/src/ckpool.h b/src/ckpool.h
index 39c32227..100c5cbe 100644
--- a/src/ckpool.h
+++ b/src/ckpool.h
@@ -326,6 +326,8 @@ void empty_buffer(connsock_t *cs);
 int set_sendbufsize(ckpool_t *ckp, const int fd, const int len);
 int set_recvbufsize(ckpool_t *ckp, const int fd, const int len);
 int read_socket_line(connsock_t *cs, float *timeout);
+void _send_proc_data(proc_instance_t *pi, const char *msg, const char *file, const char *func, const int line);
+#define send_proc_data(pi, msg) _send_proc_data(pi, msg, __FILE__, __func__, __LINE__)
 void _send_proc(proc_instance_t *pi, const char *msg, const char *file, const char *func, const int line);
 #define send_proc(pi, msg) _send_proc(pi, msg, __FILE__, __func__, __LINE__)
 char *_send_recv_proc(proc_instance_t *pi, const char *msg, int writetimeout, int readtimedout,