diff --git a/scripts/qapi.py b/scripts/qapi.py
index 514b7bb5a4..514cca44bf 100644
--- a/scripts/qapi.py
+++ b/scripts/qapi.py
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@
     from collections import OrderedDict
 except:
     from ordereddict import OrderedDict
+try:
+    from StringIO import StringIO
+except ImportError:
+    from io import StringIO
 
 builtin_types = {
     'null':     'QTYPE_QNULL',
@@ -1995,8 +1999,7 @@ def maybe_open(really, name, opt):
         if really:
             return open(name, opt)
         else:
-            import StringIO
-            return StringIO.StringIO()
+            return StringIO()
 
     fdef = maybe_open(do_c, c_file, 'w')
     fdecl = maybe_open(do_h, h_file, 'w')