diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 81fc2bc5487a5b136d13c20dd430723c95ef97a6..16f5aa90983fd79ec2000ecdda953f6cbdf88fed 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -3177,31 +3177,38 @@ qemuBuildControllerDevCommandLine(virCommandPtr cmd,
 
 /**
  * qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr:
- * @mem: memory definition object
- * @autoNodeset: fallback nodeset in case of automatic numa placement
- * @def: domain definition object
- * @qemuCaps: qemu capabilities object
+ * @backendProps: [out] constructed object
+ * @backendType: [out] type of the backennd used
  * @cfg: qemu driver config object
- * @aliasPrefix: prefix string of the alias (to allow for multiple frontents)
- * @id: index of the device (to construct the alias)
- * @backendStr: returns the object string
+ * @qemuCaps: qemu capabilities object
+ * @def: domain definition object
+ * @mem: memory definition object
+ * @autoNodeset: fallback nodeset in case of automatic NUMA placement
+ * @force: forcibly use one of the backends
+ *
+ * Creates a configuration object that represents memory backend of given guest
+ * NUMA node (domain @def and @mem). Use @autoNodeset to fine tune the
+ * placement of the memory on the host NUMA nodes.
+ *
+ * By default, if no memory-backend-* object is necessary to fulfil the guest
+ * configuration value of 1 is returned. This behaviour can be suppressed by
+ * setting @force to true in which case 0 would be returned.
  *
- * Formats the configuration string for the memory device backend according
- * to the configuration. @pagesize and @hostNodes can be used to override the
- * default source configuration, both are optional.
+ * Then, if one of the two memory-backend-* should be used, the @qemuCaps is
+ * consulted to check if qemu does support it.
  *
- * Returns 0 on success, 1 if only the implicit memory-device-ram with no
- * other configuration was used (to detect legacy configurations). Returns
- * -1 in case of an error.
+ * Returns: 0 on success,
+ *          1 on success and if there's no need to use memory-backend-*
+ *         -1 on error.
  */
 int
-qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(virDomainMemoryDefPtr mem,
-                          virBitmapPtr autoNodeset,
-                          virDomainDefPtr def,
-                          virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
-                          virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
+qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(virJSONValuePtr *backendProps,
                           const char **backendType,
-                          virJSONValuePtr *backendProps,
+                          virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
+                          virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                          virDomainDefPtr def,
+                          virDomainMemoryDefPtr mem,
+                          virBitmapPtr autoNodeset,
                           bool force)
 {
     virDomainHugePagePtr master_hugepage = NULL;
@@ -3425,8 +3432,8 @@ qemuBuildMemoryCellBackendStr(virDomainDefPtr def,
     if (virAsprintf(&alias, "ram-node%zu", cell) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if ((rc = qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(&mem, auto_nodeset, def, qemuCaps,
-                                        cfg, &backendType, &props, false)) < 0)
+    if ((rc = qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(&props, &backendType, cfg, qemuCaps,
+                                        def, &mem, auto_nodeset, false)) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     if (!(*backendStr = virQEMUBuildObjectCommandlineFromJSON(backendType,
@@ -3465,9 +3472,8 @@ qemuBuildMemoryDimmBackendStr(virDomainMemoryDefPtr mem,
     if (virAsprintf(&alias, "mem%s", mem->info.alias) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if (qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(mem, auto_nodeset,
-                                  def, qemuCaps, cfg,
-                                  &backendType, &props, true) < 0)
+    if (qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(&props, &backendType, cfg, qemuCaps,
+                                  def, mem, auto_nodeset, true) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     ret = virQEMUBuildObjectCommandlineFromJSON(backendType, alias, props);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.h b/src/qemu/qemu_command.h
index 9b2b81f552d935c771264e7dd4ae008deda5f8f6..f3ed9e7e4e206365d3557f46fc8c410d5d0d311e 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.h
@@ -124,13 +124,13 @@ char *qemuBuildControllerDevStr(const virDomainDef *domainDef,
                                 virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                                 int *nusbcontroller);
 
-int qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(virDomainMemoryDefPtr mem,
-                              virBitmapPtr autoNodeset,
-                              virDomainDefPtr def,
-                              virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
-                              virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
+int qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(virJSONValuePtr *backendProps,
                               const char **backendType,
-                              virJSONValuePtr *backendProps,
+                              virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
+                              virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                              virDomainDefPtr def,
+                              virDomainMemoryDefPtr mem,
+                              virBitmapPtr autoNodeset,
                               bool force);
 
 char *qemuBuildMemoryDeviceStr(virDomainMemoryDefPtr mem);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
index cf1a36ecc6bbbac2962929822f016e965cbcb004..b50f44cf347d9d32c4afe39247cbfe1de5d94499 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
@@ -2240,8 +2240,8 @@ qemuDomainAttachMemory(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     if (!(devstr = qemuBuildMemoryDeviceStr(mem)))
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if (qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(mem, NULL, vm->def, priv->qemuCaps,
-                                  cfg, &backendType, &props, true) < 0)
+    if (qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(&props, &backendType, cfg,
+                                  priv->qemuCaps, vm->def, mem, NULL, true) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     if (virDomainMemoryInsert(vm->def, mem) < 0) {