diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index fc386e1699..70dfcc5e29 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -2135,6 +2135,10 @@ virJSONValueObjectStealObject;
 virJSONValueToString;
 
 
+# util/virjsoncompat.h
+virJSONInitialize;
+
+
 # util/virkeycode.h
 virKeycodeSetTypeFromString;
 virKeycodeSetTypeToString;
diff --git a/src/remote/remote_daemon.c b/src/remote/remote_daemon.c
index 9f3a5f38ad..8bbc3818bb 100644
--- a/src/remote/remote_daemon.c
+++ b/src/remote/remote_daemon.c
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
 #include "virutil.h"
 #include "virgettext.h"
 #include "util/virnetdevopenvswitch.h"
+#include "virjsoncompat.h"
 
 #include "driver.h"
 
@@ -1183,6 +1184,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 
+    if (virJSONInitialize() < 0)
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+
     daemonSetupNetDevOpenvswitch(config);
 
     if (daemonSetupAccessManager(config) < 0) {