diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 39661f634394c71101ec766c7fc3fc6031e5b826..dd897869bb514e13bc027a78b7138088a0fca1c3 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -1881,7 +1881,6 @@ static int qemudDomainSaveFlag(struct qemud_driver *driver, virDomainPtr dom,
     struct stat sb;
     bool is_reg = false;
     unsigned long long offset;
-    virBitmapPtr qemuCaps = NULL;
     int fd = -1;
 
     memset(&header, 0, sizeof(header));
@@ -1913,11 +1912,6 @@ static int qemudDomainSaveFlag(struct qemud_driver *driver, virDomainPtr dom,
         }
     }
 
-    if (qemuCapsExtractVersionInfo(vm->def->emulator, vm->def->os.arch,
-                                   NULL,
-                                   &qemuCaps) < 0)
-        goto endjob;
-
     /* Get XML for the domain */
     xml = virDomainDefFormat(vm->def, VIR_DOMAIN_XML_SECURE);
     if (!xml) {
@@ -2043,7 +2037,7 @@ static int qemudDomainSaveFlag(struct qemud_driver *driver, virDomainPtr dom,
     }
 
     /* Perform the migration */
-    if (qemuMigrationToFile(driver, vm, qemuCaps, fd, offset, path,
+    if (qemuMigrationToFile(driver, vm, fd, offset, path,
                             qemuCompressProgramName(compressed),
                             is_reg, bypassSecurityDriver) < 0)
         goto endjob;
@@ -2081,7 +2075,6 @@ endjob:
     }
 
 cleanup:
-    qemuCapsFree(qemuCaps);
     VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
     VIR_FREE(xml);
     if (ret != 0 && is_reg)
@@ -2299,7 +2292,7 @@ static int doCoreDump(struct qemud_driver *driver,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (qemuMigrationToFile(driver, vm, NULL, fd, 0, path,
+    if (qemuMigrationToFile(driver, vm, fd, 0, path,
                             qemuCompressProgramName(compress), true, false) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
index 6c5bf66c3fbffaf642138dddf27b509175128d76..6738a53132406d7c9aacbffef7ef3dea85a1e133 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
@@ -255,7 +255,6 @@ qemuMigrationPrepareTunnel(struct qemud_driver *driver,
     int ret = -1;
     int internalret;
     int dataFD[2] = { -1, -1 };
-    virBitmapPtr qemuCaps = NULL;
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = NULL;
     struct timeval now;
 
@@ -307,14 +306,6 @@ qemuMigrationPrepareTunnel(struct qemud_driver *driver,
         goto endjob;
     }
 
-    /* check that this qemu version supports the interactive exec */
-    if (qemuCapsExtractVersionInfo(vm->def->emulator, vm->def->os.arch,
-                                   NULL, &qemuCaps) < 0) {
-        qemuReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                        _("Cannot determine QEMU argv syntax %s"),
-                        vm->def->emulator);
-        goto endjob;
-    }
     /* Start the QEMU daemon, with the same command-line arguments plus
      * -incoming stdio (which qemu_command might convert to exec:cat or fd:n)
      */
@@ -371,7 +362,6 @@ endjob:
     }
 
 cleanup:
-    qemuCapsFree(qemuCaps);
     virDomainDefFree(def);
     VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(dataFD[0]);
     VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(dataFD[1]);
@@ -703,7 +693,6 @@ static int doTunnelMigrate(struct qemud_driver *driver,
     virStreamPtr st = NULL;
     char *unixfile = NULL;
     int internalret;
-    virBitmapPtr qemuCaps = NULL;
     int status;
     unsigned long long transferred, remaining, total;
     unsigned int background_flags = QEMU_MONITOR_MIGRATE_BACKGROUND;
@@ -764,16 +753,9 @@ static int doTunnelMigrate(struct qemud_driver *driver,
     }
 
     /* check that this qemu version supports the unix migration */
-    if (qemuCapsExtractVersionInfo(vm->def->emulator, vm->def->os.arch,
-                                   NULL, &qemuCaps) < 0) {
-        qemuReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                        _("Cannot extract Qemu version from '%s'"),
-                        vm->def->emulator);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
 
-    if (!qemuCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_UNIX) &&
-        !qemuCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_EXEC)) {
+    if (!qemuCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_UNIX) &&
+        !qemuCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_EXEC)) {
         qemuReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_FAILED,
                         "%s", _("Source qemu is too old to support tunnelled migration"));
         goto cleanup;
@@ -815,11 +797,11 @@ static int doTunnelMigrate(struct qemud_driver *driver,
         background_flags |= QEMU_MONITOR_MIGRATE_NON_SHARED_DISK;
     if (flags & VIR_MIGRATE_NON_SHARED_INC)
         background_flags |= QEMU_MONITOR_MIGRATE_NON_SHARED_INC;
-    if (qemuCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_UNIX)) {
+    if (qemuCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_UNIX)) {
         internalret = qemuMonitorMigrateToUnix(priv->mon, background_flags,
                                                unixfile);
     }
-    else if (qemuCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_EXEC)) {
+    else if (qemuCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_EXEC)) {
         const char *args[] = { "nc", "-U", unixfile, NULL };
         internalret = qemuMonitorMigrateToCommand(priv->mon, QEMU_MONITOR_MIGRATE_BACKGROUND, args);
     } else {
@@ -889,7 +871,6 @@ finish:
 cleanup:
     VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(client_sock);
     VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(qemu_sock);
-    qemuCapsFree(qemuCaps);
 
     if (ddomain)
         virUnrefDomain(ddomain);
@@ -1289,7 +1270,6 @@ cleanup:
 /* Helper function called while driver lock is held and vm is active.  */
 int
 qemuMigrationToFile(struct qemud_driver *driver, virDomainObjPtr vm,
-                    virBitmapPtr qemuCaps,
                     int fd, off_t offset, const char *path,
                     const char *compressor,
                     bool is_reg, bool bypassSecurityDriver)
@@ -1302,7 +1282,7 @@ qemuMigrationToFile(struct qemud_driver *driver, virDomainObjPtr vm,
     virCommandPtr cmd = NULL;
     int pipeFD[2] = { -1, -1 };
 
-    if (qemuCaps && qemuCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_FD) &&
+    if (qemuCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_FD) &&
         (!compressor || pipe(pipeFD) == 0)) {
         /* All right! We can use fd migration, which means that qemu
          * doesn't have to open() the file, so while we still have to
@@ -1348,7 +1328,7 @@ qemuMigrationToFile(struct qemud_driver *driver, virDomainObjPtr vm,
     if (!compressor) {
         const char *args[] = { "cat", NULL };
 
-        if (qemuCaps && qemuCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_FD) &&
+        if (qemuCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MIGRATE_QEMU_FD) &&
             priv->monConfig->type == VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_UNIX) {
             rc = qemuMonitorMigrateToFd(priv->mon,
                                         QEMU_MONITOR_MIGRATE_BACKGROUND,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.h b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.h
index db16ce497ffdd3d69372661aa79daea0183de31e..f4e86c83ba0087feea7e6b713832830712387bbb 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.h
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ virDomainPtr qemuMigrationFinish(struct qemud_driver *driver,
 
 
 int qemuMigrationToFile(struct qemud_driver *driver, virDomainObjPtr vm,
-                        virBitmapPtr qemuCaps,
                         int fd, off_t offset, const char *path,
                         const char *compressor,
                         bool is_reg, bool bypassSecurityDriver)