We commonly use the error API like this:

    err = NULL;
    foo(..., &err);
    if (err) {
        goto out;
    }
    bar(..., &err);

Every error source is checked separately.  The second function is only
called when the first one succeeds.  Both functions are free to pass
their argument to error_set().  Because error_set() asserts no error
has been set, this effectively means they must not be called with an
error set.

The qapi-generated code uses the error API differently:

    // *errp was initialized to NULL somewhere up the call chain
    frob(..., errp);
    gnat(..., errp);

Errors accumulate in *errp: first error wins, subsequent errors get
dropped.  To make this work, the second function does nothing when
called with an error set.  Requires non-null errp, or else the second
function can't see the first one fail.

This usage has also bled into visitor tests, and two device model
object property getters rtc_get_date() and balloon_sta...