diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index bc410f7ad2a3c361da82b9774e6458e9d4af1664..748ffd56a0d1037aa36a9ed0d311098ea91aa99a 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -2024,6 +2024,7 @@ void virDomainChrSourceDefFree(virDomainChrSourceDefPtr def)
         return;
 
     virDomainChrSourceDefClear(def);
+    virObjectUnref(def->privateData);
 
     VIR_FREE(def);
 }
@@ -2125,8 +2126,6 @@ void virDomainChrDefFree(virDomainChrDefPtr def)
         VIR_FREE(def->seclabels);
     }
 
-    virObjectUnref(def->privateData);
-
     VIR_FREE(def);
 }
 
@@ -10318,13 +10317,17 @@ virDomainChrSourceDefParseXML(virDomainChrSourceDefPtr def,
 
 
 static virDomainChrSourceDefPtr
-virDomainChrSourceDefNew(void)
+virDomainChrSourceDefNew(virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt)
 {
     virDomainChrSourceDefPtr def = NULL;
 
     if (VIR_ALLOC(def) < 0)
         return NULL;
 
+    if (xmlopt && xmlopt->privateData.chrSourceNew &&
+        !(def->privateData = xmlopt->privateData.chrSourceNew()))
+        VIR_FREE(def);
+
     return def;
 }
 
@@ -10342,14 +10345,8 @@ virDomainChrDefNew(virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt)
 
     def->target.port = -1;
 
-    if (!(def->source = virDomainChrSourceDefNew()))
-        VIR_FREE(def);
-
-    if (xmlopt && xmlopt->privateData.chardevNew &&
-        !(def->privateData = xmlopt->privateData.chardevNew())) {
-        virDomainChrSourceDefFree(def->source);
+    if (!(def->source = virDomainChrSourceDefNew(xmlopt)))
         VIR_FREE(def);
-    }
 
     return def;
 }
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.h b/src/conf/domain_conf.h
index 5247d34a8d8fa511f3ab09bd0b0a25e8a5537b46..8738c80441adf8d01fa6dfae78f2458bfe3f4c93 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.h
@@ -1078,6 +1078,7 @@ typedef enum {
 /* The host side information for a character device.  */
 struct _virDomainChrSourceDef {
     int type; /* virDomainChrType */
+    virObjectPtr privateData;
     union {
         /* no <source> for null, vc, stdio */
         struct {
@@ -1117,7 +1118,6 @@ struct _virDomainChrSourceDef {
 /* A complete character device, both host and domain views.  */
 struct _virDomainChrDef {
     int deviceType; /* enum virDomainChrDeviceType */
-    virObjectPtr privateData;
 
     bool targetTypeAttr;
     int targetType; /* enum virDomainChrConsoleTargetType ||
@@ -2447,7 +2447,7 @@ struct _virDomainXMLPrivateDataCallbacks {
     virDomainXMLPrivateDataNewFunc    diskNew;
     virDomainXMLPrivateDataNewFunc    hostdevNew;
     virDomainXMLPrivateDataNewFunc    vcpuNew;
-    virDomainXMLPrivateDataNewFunc    chardevNew;
+    virDomainXMLPrivateDataNewFunc    chrSourceNew;
     virDomainXMLPrivateDataFormatFunc format;
     virDomainXMLPrivateDataParseFunc  parse;
 };
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 88c50a37e9dc72ffc8bf9386f063779f309a3d61..f11bc010ca2f5cac43b12a130881d236cdad97c1 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -864,34 +864,34 @@ qemuDomainVcpuPrivateDispose(void *obj)
 }
 
 
-static virClassPtr qemuDomainChardevPrivateClass;
-static void qemuDomainChardevPrivateDispose(void *obj);
+static virClassPtr qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateClass;
+static void qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateDispose(void *obj);
 
 static int
-qemuDomainChardevPrivateOnceInit(void)
+qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateOnceInit(void)
 {
-    qemuDomainChardevPrivateClass =
+    qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateClass =
         virClassNew(virClassForObject(),
-                    "qemuDomainChardevPrivate",
-                    sizeof(qemuDomainChardevPrivate),
-                    qemuDomainChardevPrivateDispose);
-    if (!qemuDomainChardevPrivateClass)
+                    "qemuDomainChrSourcePrivate",
+                    sizeof(qemuDomainChrSourcePrivate),
+                    qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateDispose);
+    if (!qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateClass)
         return -1;
     else
         return 0;
 }
 
-VIR_ONCE_GLOBAL_INIT(qemuDomainChardevPrivate)
+VIR_ONCE_GLOBAL_INIT(qemuDomainChrSourcePrivate)
 
 static virObjectPtr
-qemuDomainChardevPrivateNew(void)
+qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateNew(void)
 {
-    qemuDomainChardevPrivatePtr priv;
+    qemuDomainChrSourcePrivatePtr priv;
 
-    if (qemuDomainChardevPrivateInitialize() < 0)
+    if (qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateInitialize() < 0)
         return NULL;
 
-    if (!(priv = virObjectNew(qemuDomainChardevPrivateClass)))
+    if (!(priv = virObjectNew(qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateClass)))
         return NULL;
 
     return (virObjectPtr) priv;
@@ -899,9 +899,9 @@ qemuDomainChardevPrivateNew(void)
 
 
 static void
-qemuDomainChardevPrivateDispose(void *obj)
+qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateDispose(void *obj)
 {
-    qemuDomainChardevPrivatePtr priv = obj;
+    qemuDomainChrSourcePrivatePtr priv = obj;
 
     qemuDomainSecretInfoFree(&priv->secinfo);
 }
@@ -1807,7 +1807,7 @@ virDomainXMLPrivateDataCallbacks virQEMUDriverPrivateDataCallbacks = {
     .diskNew = qemuDomainDiskPrivateNew,
     .vcpuNew = qemuDomainVcpuPrivateNew,
     .hostdevNew = qemuDomainHostdevPrivateNew,
-    .chardevNew = qemuDomainChardevPrivateNew,
+    .chrSourceNew = qemuDomainChrSourcePrivateNew,
     .parse = qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParse,
     .format = qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormat,
 };
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
index 707a995dc56d9b02b6e2290807ad7de81f4c79a5..29125a2123564d00fb8e13d73d517321d8b453ba 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
@@ -352,12 +352,12 @@ struct _qemuDomainHostdevPrivate {
     qemuDomainSecretInfoPtr secinfo;
 };
 
-# define QEMU_DOMAIN_CHARDEV_PRIVATE(chardev)	\
-    ((qemuDomainChardevPrivatePtr) (chardev)->privateData)
+# define QEMU_DOMAIN_CHR_SOURCE_PRIVATE(dev)	\
+    ((qemuDomainChrSourcePrivatePtr) (dev)->privateData)
 
-typedef struct _qemuDomainChardevPrivate qemuDomainChardevPrivate;
-typedef qemuDomainChardevPrivate *qemuDomainChardevPrivatePtr;
-struct _qemuDomainChardevPrivate {
+typedef struct _qemuDomainChrSourcePrivate qemuDomainChrSourcePrivate;
+typedef qemuDomainChrSourcePrivate *qemuDomainChrSourcePrivatePtr;
+struct _qemuDomainChrSourcePrivate {
     virObject parent;
 
     /* for char devices using secret