diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_block.c b/src/qemu/qemu_block.c
index 8b71679118361efaa02a054e77fca3639a0b286e..6f81e9d96cb9745e57b5cdaf76a77d29098a4d25 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_block.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_block.c
@@ -467,11 +467,14 @@ qemuBlockStorageSourceGetURI(virStorageSourcePtr src)
 /**
  * qemuBlockStorageSourceBuildJSONSocketAddress
  * @host: the virStorageNetHostDefPtr definition to build
- * @legacy: use 'tcp' instead of 'inet' for compatibility reasons
+ * @legacy: use old field names/values
  *
  * Formats @hosts into a json object conforming to the 'SocketAddress' type
  * in qemu.
  *
+ * For compatibility with old approach used in the gluster driver of old qemus
+ * use the old spelling for TCP transport and, the path field of the unix socket.
+ *
  * Returns a virJSONValuePtr for a single server.
  */
 static virJSONValuePtr
@@ -481,6 +484,7 @@ qemuBlockStorageSourceBuildJSONSocketAddress(virStorageNetHostDefPtr host,
     virJSONValuePtr server = NULL;
     virJSONValuePtr ret = NULL;
     const char *transport;
+    const char *field;
     char *port = NULL;
 
     switch ((virStorageNetHostTransport) host->transport) {
@@ -502,9 +506,14 @@ qemuBlockStorageSourceBuildJSONSocketAddress(virStorageNetHostDefPtr host,
         break;
 
     case VIR_STORAGE_NET_HOST_TRANS_UNIX:
+        if (legacy)
+            field = "s:socket";
+        else
+            field = "s:path";
+
         if (virJSONValueObjectCreate(&server,
                                      "s:type", "unix",
-                                     "s:socket", host->socket,
+                                     field, host->socket,
                                      NULL) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
         break;
diff --git a/src/util/virstoragefile.c b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
index 7f878039ba762b6fefb1919bdc89af9250324d2d..ebfb0a860ae8589224791af97e9417f19933b16b 100644
--- a/src/util/virstoragefile.c
+++ b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
@@ -2893,7 +2893,13 @@ virStorageSourceParseBackingJSONSocketAddress(virStorageNetHostDefPtr host,
     } else if (STREQ(type, "unix")) {
         host->transport = VIR_STORAGE_NET_HOST_TRANS_UNIX;
 
-        if (!(socket = virJSONValueObjectGetString(json, "socket"))) {
+        socket = virJSONValueObjectGetString(json, "path");
+
+        /* check for old spelling for gluster protocol */
+        if (!socket)
+            socket = virJSONValueObjectGetString(json, "socket");
+
+        if (!socket) {
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_INVALID_ARG, "%s",
                            _("missing socket path for udp backing server in "
                              "JSON backing volume definition"));