diff --git a/scripts/qapi/gen.py b/scripts/qapi/gen.py
index fff0c0acb6..2c305c4f82 100644
--- a/scripts/qapi/gen.py
+++ b/scripts/qapi/gen.py
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ def __init__(self, prefix, what, user_blurb, builtin_blurb, pydoc):
 
     @staticmethod
     def _is_user_module(name):
-        return name and not name.startswith('./')
+        return bool(name and not name.startswith('./'))
 
     @staticmethod
     def _is_builtin_module(name):