diff --git a/src/conf/cpu_conf.c b/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
index a4be5742e3893220ec7da3c07cf7bb50471671a1..ffb2e83d6715d4980940b2c69cfdcd4e54fc0c0a 100644
--- a/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
@@ -811,7 +811,8 @@ virCPUDefAddFeature(virCPUDefPtr def,
 
 bool
 virCPUDefIsEqual(virCPUDefPtr src,
-                 virCPUDefPtr dst)
+                 virCPUDefPtr dst,
+                 bool reportError)
 {
     bool identical = false;
     size_t i;
@@ -819,98 +820,89 @@ virCPUDefIsEqual(virCPUDefPtr src,
     if (!src && !dst)
         return true;
 
+#define MISMATCH(fmt, ...)                                              \
+    if (reportError)                                                    \
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, fmt, __VA_ARGS__)
+
     if ((src && !dst) || (!src && dst)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                       _("Target CPU does not match source"));
+        MISMATCH("%s", _("Target CPU does not match source"));
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (src->type != dst->type) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU type %s does not match source %s"),
-                       virCPUTypeToString(dst->type),
-                       virCPUTypeToString(src->type));
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU type %s does not match source %s"),
+                 virCPUTypeToString(dst->type),
+                 virCPUTypeToString(src->type));
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (src->mode != dst->mode) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU mode %s does not match source %s"),
-                       virCPUModeTypeToString(dst->mode),
-                       virCPUModeTypeToString(src->mode));
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU mode %s does not match source %s"),
+                 virCPUModeTypeToString(dst->mode),
+                 virCPUModeTypeToString(src->mode));
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (src->arch != dst->arch) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU arch %s does not match source %s"),
-                       virArchToString(dst->arch),
-                       virArchToString(src->arch));
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU arch %s does not match source %s"),
+                 virArchToString(dst->arch),
+                 virArchToString(src->arch));
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (STRNEQ_NULLABLE(src->model, dst->model)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU model %s does not match source %s"),
-                       NULLSTR(dst->model), NULLSTR(src->model));
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU model %s does not match source %s"),
+                 NULLSTR(dst->model), NULLSTR(src->model));
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (STRNEQ_NULLABLE(src->vendor, dst->vendor)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU vendor %s does not match source %s"),
-                       NULLSTR(dst->vendor), NULLSTR(src->vendor));
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU vendor %s does not match source %s"),
+                 NULLSTR(dst->vendor), NULLSTR(src->vendor));
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (STRNEQ_NULLABLE(src->vendor_id, dst->vendor_id)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU vendor id %s does not match source %s"),
-                       NULLSTR(dst->vendor_id), NULLSTR(src->vendor_id));
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU vendor id %s does not match source %s"),
+                 NULLSTR(dst->vendor_id), NULLSTR(src->vendor_id));
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (src->sockets != dst->sockets) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU sockets %d does not match source %d"),
-                       dst->sockets, src->sockets);
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU sockets %d does not match source %d"),
+                 dst->sockets, src->sockets);
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (src->cores != dst->cores) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU cores %d does not match source %d"),
-                       dst->cores, src->cores);
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU cores %d does not match source %d"),
+                 dst->cores, src->cores);
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (src->threads != dst->threads) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU threads %d does not match source %d"),
-                       dst->threads, src->threads);
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU threads %d does not match source %d"),
+                 dst->threads, src->threads);
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (src->nfeatures != dst->nfeatures) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target CPU feature count %zu does not match source %zu"),
-                       dst->nfeatures, src->nfeatures);
+        MISMATCH(_("Target CPU feature count %zu does not match source %zu"),
+                 dst->nfeatures, src->nfeatures);
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
     for (i = 0; i < src->nfeatures; i++) {
         if (STRNEQ(src->features[i].name, dst->features[i].name)) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                           _("Target CPU feature %s does not match source %s"),
-                           dst->features[i].name, src->features[i].name);
+            MISMATCH(_("Target CPU feature %s does not match source %s"),
+                     dst->features[i].name, src->features[i].name);
             goto cleanup;
         }
 
         if (src->features[i].policy != dst->features[i].policy) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                           _("Target CPU feature policy %s does not match source %s"),
-                           virCPUFeaturePolicyTypeToString(dst->features[i].policy),
-                           virCPUFeaturePolicyTypeToString(src->features[i].policy));
+            MISMATCH(_("Target CPU feature policy %s does not match source %s"),
+                     virCPUFeaturePolicyTypeToString(dst->features[i].policy),
+                     virCPUFeaturePolicyTypeToString(src->features[i].policy));
             goto cleanup;
         }
     }
@@ -920,11 +912,12 @@ virCPUDefIsEqual(virCPUDefPtr src,
         (src->cache && dst->cache &&
          (src->cache->level != dst->cache->level ||
           src->cache->mode != dst->cache->mode))) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                       _("Target CPU cache does not match source"));
+        MISMATCH("%s", _("Target CPU cache does not match source"));
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
+#undef MISMATCH
+
     identical = true;
 
  cleanup:
diff --git a/src/conf/cpu_conf.h b/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
index 09438b68b479032730e3bbabe859dbcd4a236d87..b0d891552a15cbe6b1c9dac86435757533b4c3f3 100644
--- a/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
@@ -189,7 +189,8 @@ virCPUDefParseXML(xmlNodePtr node,
 
 bool
 virCPUDefIsEqual(virCPUDefPtr src,
-                 virCPUDefPtr dst);
+                 virCPUDefPtr dst,
+                 bool reportError);
 
 char *
 virCPUDefFormat(virCPUDefPtr def,
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 958a5b7cdf00cd501f6f0607000fee91cb0b8994..5f99dad9cd8a12becebdeb7e75ebf9bf2629bcec 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -20090,7 +20090,7 @@ virDomainDefCheckABIStabilityFlags(virDomainDefPtr src,
             goto error;
     }
 
-    if (!virCPUDefIsEqual(src->cpu, dst->cpu))
+    if (!virCPUDefIsEqual(src->cpu, dst->cpu, true))
         goto error;
 
     if (!virSysinfoIsEqual(src->sysinfo, dst->sysinfo))