diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 86e911f641..d6d35803b8 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -445,6 +445,7 @@ VIR_ENUM_IMPL(virQEMUCaps, QEMU_CAPS_LAST,
               "virtio-blk.num-queues",
               "machine.pseries.resize-hpt",
               "vmcoreinfo",
+              "spapr-vty",
     );
 
 
@@ -1673,6 +1674,7 @@ struct virQEMUCapsStringFlags virQEMUCapsObjectTypes[] = {
     { "qemu-xhci", QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_QEMU_XHCI },
     { "spapr-pci-host-bridge", QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_PCI_HOST_BRIDGE },
     { "vmcoreinfo", QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_VMCOREINFO },
+    { "spapr-vty", QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY },
 };
 
 static struct virQEMUCapsStringFlags virQEMUCapsObjectPropsVirtioBalloon[] = {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
index 17daa67a5c..3358ce202c 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
@@ -431,6 +431,7 @@ typedef enum {
     QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_BLK_NUM_QUEUES, /* virtio-blk-*.num-queues */
     QEMU_CAPS_MACHINE_PSERIES_RESIZE_HPT, /* -machine pseries,resize-hpt */
     QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_VMCOREINFO, /* -device vmcoreinfo */
+    QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY, /* -device spapr-vty */
 
     QEMU_CAPS_LAST /* this must always be the last item */
 } virQEMUCapsFlags;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index e3c2d7e24f..e200b77ab1 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -10221,6 +10221,12 @@ qemuBuildSerialChrDeviceStr(char **deviceStr,
     if (qemuDomainIsPSeries(def)) {
         if (serial->deviceType == VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_DEVICE_TYPE_SERIAL &&
             serial->info.type == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_SPAPRVIO) {
+            if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY)) {
+                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                               _("spapr-vty not supported in this QEMU binary"));
+                goto error;
+            }
+
             virBufferAsprintf(&cmd, "spapr-vty,chardev=char%s",
                               serial->info.alias);
         }
diff --git a/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.10.0.ppc64.xml b/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.10.0.ppc64.xml
index b0ee3f1523..b7b80799c0 100644
--- a/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.10.0.ppc64.xml
+++ b/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.10.0.ppc64.xml
@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@
   <flag name='vxhs'/>
   <flag name='virtio-blk.num-queues'/>
   <flag name='machine.pseries.resize-hpt'/>
+  <flag name='spapr-vty'/>
   <version>2010000</version>
   <kvmVersion>0</kvmVersion>
   <package> (v2.10.0)</package>
diff --git a/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.6.0.ppc64.xml b/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.6.0.ppc64.xml
index f1c9fc98a4..5ff8598fc8 100644
--- a/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.6.0.ppc64.xml
+++ b/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.6.0.ppc64.xml
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@
   <flag name='vnc-multi-servers'/>
   <flag name='chardev-reconnect'/>
   <flag name='virtio-gpu.max_outputs'/>
+  <flag name='spapr-vty'/>
   <version>2006000</version>
   <kvmVersion>0</kvmVersion>
   <package></package>
diff --git a/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.9.0.ppc64.xml b/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.9.0.ppc64.xml
index 786cea8eab..e1b0074c9f 100644
--- a/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.9.0.ppc64.xml
+++ b/tests/qemucapabilitiesdata/caps_2.9.0.ppc64.xml
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@
   <flag name='chardev-reconnect'/>
   <flag name='virtio-gpu.max_outputs'/>
   <flag name='virtio-blk.num-queues'/>
+  <flag name='spapr-vty'/>
   <version>2009000</version>
   <kvmVersion>0</kvmVersion>
   <package> (v2.9.0)</package>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index b3e71aa1b7..8bd29eb79e 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -1753,50 +1753,62 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("seclabel-device-duplicates", NONE);
 
     DO_TEST("pseries-basic",
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST("pseries-vio",
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST("pseries-usb-default",
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_PIIX3_USB_UHCI,
             QEMU_CAPS_PCI_OHCI,
             QEMU_CAPS_PCI_MULTIFUNCTION);
     DO_TEST("pseries-usb-multi",
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_PIIX3_USB_UHCI,
             QEMU_CAPS_PCI_OHCI,
             QEMU_CAPS_PCI_MULTIFUNCTION);
     DO_TEST("pseries-vio-user-assigned",
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("pseries-vio-address-clash",
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST("pseries-nvram", QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_NVRAM);
     DO_TEST("pseries-usb-kbd", QEMU_CAPS_PCI_OHCI,
             QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_USB_KBD,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST("pseries-cpu-exact",
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("pseries-no-parallel",
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
 
     qemuTestSetHostArch(driver.caps, VIR_ARCH_PPC64);
     DO_TEST("pseries-cpu-compat", QEMU_CAPS_KVM,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST("pseries-cpu-le", QEMU_CAPS_KVM,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST_FAILURE("pseries-cpu-compat-power9", QEMU_CAPS_KVM);
 
     qemuTestSetHostCPU(driver.caps, cpuPower9);
     DO_TEST("pseries-cpu-compat-power9",
             QEMU_CAPS_KVM,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     qemuTestSetHostCPU(driver.caps, NULL);
 
     qemuTestSetHostArch(driver.caps, VIR_ARCH_NONE);
 
     DO_TEST("pseries-panic-missing",
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST("pseries-panic-no-address",
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_VTY,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST_FAILURE("pseries-panic-address",
                     QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);