diff --git a/nmap.cc b/nmap.cc
index a5be648f1..c61cf2037 100644
--- a/nmap.cc
+++ b/nmap.cc
@@ -1748,7 +1748,6 @@ int nmap_main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   chomp(mytime);
   char *xslfname = o.XSLStyleSheet();
   xml_start_document();
-  log_write(LOG_XML, "<!DOCTYPE nmaprun PUBLIC \"-//IDN nmap.org//DTD Nmap XML %s//EN\" \"https://svn.nmap.org/nmap/docs/nmap.dtd\">\n", NMAP_XMLOUTPUTVERSION);
   if (xslfname) {
     xml_open_pi("xml-stylesheet");
     xml_attribute("href", "%s", xslfname);
diff --git a/xml.cc b/xml.cc
index 26c9725f4..27997bc5a 100644
--- a/xml.cc
+++ b/xml.cc
@@ -320,6 +320,8 @@ int xml_start_document() {
   if (xml_newline() < 0)
     return -1;
 
+  log_write(LOG_XML, "<!DOCTYPE nmaprun PUBLIC \"-//IDN nmap.org//DTD Nmap XML %s//EN\" \"https://svn.nmap.org/nmap/docs/nmap.dtd\">\n", NMAP_XMLOUTPUTVERSION);
+
   return 0;
 }