diff --git a/docs/formatdomain.html b/docs/formatdomain.html
index bb6da11afe..0b21c6bd25 100644
--- a/docs/formatdomain.html
+++ b/docs/formatdomain.html
@@ -180,6 +180,8 @@
                         <a href="#elementsCharPTY">Pseudo TTY</a>
                       </li><li>
                         <a href="#elementsCharHost">Host device proxy</a>
+                      </li><li>
+                        <a href="#elementsCharPipe">Named pipe</a>
                       </li><li>
                         <a href="#elementsCharTCP">TCP client/server</a>
                       </li><li>
@@ -877,6 +879,20 @@ qemu-kvm -net nic,model=? /dev/null
         &lt;source path="/dev/ttyS0"/&gt;
         &lt;target port="1"/&gt;
       &lt;/serial&gt;
+      ...</pre>
+        <h5>
+          <a name="elementsCharPipe" id="elementsCharPipe">Named pipe</a>
+        </h5>
+        <p>
+      The character device writes output to a named pipe. See pipe(7) for
+      more info.
+    </p>
+        <pre>
+      ...
+      &lt;serial type="pipe"&gt;
+        &lt;source path="/tmp/mypipe"/&gt;
+        &lt;target port="1"/&gt;
+      &lt;/serial&gt;
       ...</pre>
         <h5>
           <a name="elementsCharTCP" id="elementsCharTCP">TCP client/server</a>
@@ -889,7 +905,7 @@ qemu-kvm -net nic,model=? /dev/null
       ...
       &lt;serial type="tcp"&gt;
         &lt;source mode="connect" host="0.0.0.0" service="2445"/&gt;
-        &lt;wiremode type="telnet"/&gt;
+        &lt;protocol type="telnet"/&gt;
         &lt;target port="1"/&gt;
       &lt;/serial&gt;
       ...</pre>
diff --git a/docs/formatdomain.html.in b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
index 48d689dff3..191b03e541 100644
--- a/docs/formatdomain.html.in
+++ b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
@@ -839,6 +839,21 @@ qemu-kvm -net nic,model=? /dev/null
       &lt;/serial&gt;
       ...</pre>
 
+    <h5><a name="elementsCharPipe">Named pipe</a></h5>
+
+    <p>
+      The character device writes output to a named pipe. See pipe(7) for
+      more info.
+    </p>
+
+    <pre>
+      ...
+      &lt;serial type="pipe"&gt;
+        &lt;source path="/tmp/mypipe"/&gt;
+        &lt;target port="1"/&gt;
+      &lt;/serial&gt;
+      ...</pre>
+
     <h5><a name="elementsCharTCP">TCP client/server</a></h5>
 
     <p>
@@ -850,7 +865,7 @@ qemu-kvm -net nic,model=? /dev/null
       ...
       &lt;serial type="tcp"&gt;
         &lt;source mode="connect" host="0.0.0.0" service="2445"/&gt;
-        &lt;wiremode type="telnet"/&gt;
+        &lt;protocol type="telnet"/&gt;
         &lt;target port="1"/&gt;
       &lt;/serial&gt;
       ...</pre>
diff --git a/src/domain_conf.c b/src/domain_conf.c
index 4056a868e2..f3e4c6c39c 100644
--- a/src/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/domain_conf.c
@@ -1170,6 +1170,7 @@ error:
  * <serial type="tcp">
  *   <source mode="bind" host="0.0.0.0" service="2445"/>
  *   <target port="1"/>
+ *   <protocol type='raw'/>
  * </serial>
  *
  * <serial type="udp">
@@ -1237,11 +1238,16 @@ virDomainChrDefParseXML(virConnectPtr conn,
                             connectHost = virXMLPropString(cur, "host");
                         if (connectService == NULL)
                             connectService = virXMLPropString(cur, "service");
-                    } else {
+                    } else if (STREQ((const char *)mode, "bind")) {
                         if (bindHost == NULL)
                             bindHost = virXMLPropString(cur, "host");
                         if (bindService == NULL)
                             bindService = virXMLPropString(cur, "service");
+                    } else {
+                        virDomainReportError(conn, VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                                             _("Unknown source mode '%s'"),
+                                             mode);
+                        goto error;
                     }
 
                     if (def->type == VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_UDP)
@@ -1320,11 +1326,18 @@ virDomainChrDefParseXML(virConnectPtr conn,
             bindService = NULL;
             def->data.tcp.listen = 1;
         }
-        if (protocol != NULL &&
-            STREQ(protocol, "telnet"))
-            def->data.tcp.protocol = VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TCP_PROTOCOL_TELNET;
-        else
+
+        if (protocol == NULL ||
+            STREQ(protocol, "raw"))
             def->data.tcp.protocol = VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TCP_PROTOCOL_RAW;
+        else if (STREQ(protocol, "telnet"))
+            def->data.tcp.protocol = VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TCP_PROTOCOL_TELNET;
+        else {
+            virDomainReportError(conn, VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                                 _("Unknown protocol '%s'"), protocol);
+            goto error;
+        }
+
         break;
 
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_UDP: