diff --git a/include/libxml/tree.h b/include/libxml/tree.h
index 19bb1267..dca20318 100644
--- a/include/libxml/tree.h
+++ b/include/libxml/tree.h
@@ -91,11 +91,16 @@ typedef enum {
 typedef struct _xmlBuffer xmlBuffer;
 typedef xmlBuffer *xmlBufferPtr;
 struct _xmlBuffer {
-    xmlChar *content;		/* The buffer content UTF8 */
-    unsigned int use;		/* The buffer size used */
-    unsigned int size;		/* The buffer size */
-    xmlBufferAllocationScheme alloc; /* The realloc method */
-    xmlChar *contentIO;		/* in IO mode we may have a different base */
+    /* The buffer content UTF8 */
+    xmlChar *content XML_DEPRECATED_MEMBER;
+    /* The buffer size used */
+    unsigned int use XML_DEPRECATED_MEMBER;
+    /* The buffer size */
+    unsigned int size XML_DEPRECATED_MEMBER;
+    /* The realloc method */
+    xmlBufferAllocationScheme alloc XML_DEPRECATED_MEMBER;
+    /* in IO mode we may have a different base */
+    xmlChar *contentIO XML_DEPRECATED_MEMBER;
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/python/libxml.c b/python/libxml.c
index 7c0f27fc..6897aa52 100644
--- a/python/libxml.c
+++ b/python/libxml.c
@@ -2773,8 +2773,7 @@ libxml_serializeNode(ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED PyObject * self, PyObject * args)
 	xmlSaveTree(ctxt, node);
     xmlSaveClose(ctxt);
 
-    c_retval = buf->content;
-    buf->content = NULL;
+    c_retval = xmlBufferDetach(buf);
 
     xmlBufferFree(buf);
     py_retval = libxml_charPtrWrap((char *) c_retval);
diff --git a/runsuite.c b/runsuite.c
index 0b592b0c..257b9210 100644
--- a/runsuite.c
+++ b/runsuite.c
@@ -302,7 +302,8 @@ xsdIncorrectTestCase(xmlNodePtr cur) {
     }
     xmlBufferSetAllocationScheme(buf, XML_BUFFER_ALLOC_DOUBLEIT);
     xmlNodeDump(buf, test->doc, test, 0, 0);
-    pctxt = xmlRelaxNGNewMemParserCtxt((const char *)buf->content, buf->use);
+    pctxt = xmlRelaxNGNewMemParserCtxt(
+            (const char *) xmlBufferContent(buf), xmlBufferLength(buf));
     xmlRelaxNGSetParserErrors(pctxt, testErrorHandler, testErrorHandler,
             pctxt);
     xmlRelaxNGSetResourceLoader(pctxt, testResourceLoader, NULL);
@@ -349,7 +350,7 @@ installResources(xmlNodePtr tst, const xmlChar *base) {
 	    xmlBufferEmpty(buf);
 	    xmlNodeDump(buf, test->doc, test, 0, 0);
 	    name = getString(tst, "string(@name)");
-	    content = xmlStrdup(buf->content);
+	    content = xmlStrdup(xmlBufferContent(buf));
 	    if ((name != NULL) && (content != NULL)) {
 	        res = composeDir(base, name);
 		xmlFree(name);
@@ -437,7 +438,8 @@ xsdTestCase(xmlNodePtr tst) {
     }
     xmlBufferSetAllocationScheme(buf, XML_BUFFER_ALLOC_DOUBLEIT);
     xmlNodeDump(buf, test->doc, test, 0, 0);
-    pctxt = xmlRelaxNGNewMemParserCtxt((const char *)buf->content, buf->use);
+    pctxt = xmlRelaxNGNewMemParserCtxt(
+            (const char *) xmlBufferContent(buf), xmlBufferLength(buf));
     xmlRelaxNGSetParserErrors(pctxt, testErrorHandler, testErrorHandler,
             pctxt);
     xmlRelaxNGSetResourceLoader(pctxt, testResourceLoader, NULL);
@@ -472,8 +474,8 @@ xsdTestCase(xmlNodePtr tst) {
 	     * We are ready to run the test
 	     */
 	    mem = xmlMemUsed();
-            doc = xmlReadMemory((const char *)buf->content, buf->use,
-	                        "test", NULL, 0);
+            doc = xmlReadMemory((const char *) xmlBufferContent(buf),
+                                xmlBufferLength(buf), "test", NULL, 0);
 	    if (doc == NULL) {
 		test_log("Failed to parse valid instance line %ld\n",
 			xmlGetLineNo(tmp));
@@ -525,8 +527,8 @@ xsdTestCase(xmlNodePtr tst) {
 	     * We are ready to run the test
 	     */
 	    mem = xmlMemUsed();
-            doc = xmlReadMemory((const char *)buf->content, buf->use,
-	                        "test", NULL, 0);
+            doc = xmlReadMemory((const char *) xmlBufferContent(buf),
+                                xmlBufferLength(buf), "test", NULL, 0);
 	    if (doc == NULL) {
 		test_log("Failed to parse valid instance line %ld\n",
 			xmlGetLineNo(tmp));