diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 2f8378a42f..7a61b3196e 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -3542,3 +3542,17 @@ virQEMUCapsSupportsChardev(virDomainDefPtr def,
             (chr->deviceType == VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_DEVICE_TYPE_CONSOLE &&
              chr->targetType == VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_CONSOLE_TARGET_TYPE_VIRTIO));
 }
+
+
+bool
+virQEMUCapsIsMachineSupported(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                              const char *canonical_machine)
+{
+    size_t i;
+
+    for (i = 0; i < qemuCaps->nmachineTypes; i++) {
+        if (STREQ(canonical_machine, qemuCaps->machineTypes[i]))
+            return true;
+    }
+    return false;
+}
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
index 1eb92b5231..4857dfde42 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
@@ -302,6 +302,9 @@ bool virQEMUCapsSupportsChardev(virDomainDefPtr def,
                                 virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                                 virDomainChrDefPtr chr);
 
+bool virQEMUCapsIsMachineSupported(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                                   const char *canonical_machine);
+
 int virQEMUCapsInitGuestFromBinary(virCapsPtr caps,
                                    const char *binary,
                                    virQEMUCapsPtr qemubinCaps,