diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 7f9c542f2cd6486fd4a5a61fe5e4209dfa58168a..f5c59df6e9cd130fb5701ee4299d02c089c931ad 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -11105,8 +11105,7 @@ int virDomainSaveXML(const char *configDir,
                      const char *xml)
 {
     char *configFile = NULL;
-    int fd = -1, ret = -1;
-    size_t towrite;
+    int ret = -1;
 
     if ((configFile = virDomainConfigFile(configDir, def->name)) == NULL)
         goto cleanup;
@@ -11118,36 +11117,9 @@ int virDomainSaveXML(const char *configDir,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if ((fd = open(configFile,
-                   O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC,
-                   S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR )) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot create config file '%s'"),
-                             configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    virEmitXMLWarning(fd, def->name, "edit");
-
-    towrite = strlen(xml);
-    if (safewrite(fd, xml, towrite) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot write config file '%s'"),
-                             configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    if (VIR_CLOSE(fd) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot save config file '%s'"),
-                             configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
+    ret = virXMLSaveFile(configFile, def->name, "edit", xml);
 
-    ret = 0;
  cleanup:
-    VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
-
     VIR_FREE(configFile);
     return ret;
 }
diff --git a/src/conf/network_conf.c b/src/conf/network_conf.c
index 7bc2e2cbe8d4da77b629a579de1a9fa67163656e..f7369e8c131dcac06e46480cbad75dadb3f50efa 100644
--- a/src/conf/network_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/network_conf.c
@@ -1395,8 +1395,7 @@ int virNetworkSaveXML(const char *configDir,
                       const char *xml)
 {
     char *configFile = NULL;
-    int fd = -1, ret = -1;
-    size_t towrite;
+    int ret = -1;
 
     if ((configFile = virNetworkConfigFile(configDir, def->name)) == NULL)
         goto cleanup;
@@ -1408,39 +1407,10 @@ int virNetworkSaveXML(const char *configDir,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if ((fd = open(configFile,
-                   O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC,
-                   S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR )) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot create config file '%s'"),
-                             configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    virEmitXMLWarning(fd, def->name, "net-edit");
-
-    towrite = strlen(xml);
-    if (safewrite(fd, xml, towrite) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot write config file '%s'"),
-                             configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    if (VIR_CLOSE(fd) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot save config file '%s'"),
-                             configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    ret = 0;
+    ret = virXMLSaveFile(configFile, def->name, "net-edit", xml);
 
  cleanup:
-    VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
-
     VIR_FREE(configFile);
-
     return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
index 289d2bb55d9433c57729831bd17007953104fa36..6c3e1cf67e33dd7b790747689632a8dbde390003 100644
--- a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
@@ -2186,8 +2186,7 @@ int virNWFilterSaveXML(const char *configDir,
                        const char *xml)
 {
     char *configFile = NULL;
-    int fd = -1, ret = -1;
-    size_t towrite;
+    int ret = -1;
 
     if ((configFile = virNWFilterConfigFile(configDir, def->name)) == NULL)
         goto cleanup;
@@ -2199,38 +2198,10 @@ int virNWFilterSaveXML(const char *configDir,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if ((fd = open(configFile,
-                   O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC,
-                   S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR )) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot create config file '%s'"),
-                             configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    virEmitXMLWarning(fd, def->name, "nwfilter-edit");
-
-    towrite = strlen(xml);
-    if (safewrite(fd, xml, towrite) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot write config file '%s'"),
-                             configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    if (VIR_CLOSE(fd) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot save config file '%s'"),
-                             configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    ret = 0;
+    ret = virXMLSaveFile(configFile, def->name, "nwfilter-edit", xml);
 
  cleanup:
-    VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
     VIR_FREE(configFile);
-
     return ret;
 }
 
@@ -2573,8 +2544,7 @@ virNWFilterObjSaveDef(virNWFilterDriverStatePtr driver,
                       virNWFilterDefPtr def)
 {
     char *xml;
-    int fd = -1, ret = -1;
-    ssize_t towrite;
+    int ret;
 
     if (!nwfilter->configFile) {
         if (virFileMakePath(driver->configDir) < 0) {
@@ -2596,37 +2566,7 @@ virNWFilterObjSaveDef(virNWFilterDriverStatePtr driver,
         return -1;
     }
 
-    if ((fd = open(nwfilter->configFile,
-                   O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC,
-                   S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR )) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot create config file %s"),
-                             nwfilter->configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    virEmitXMLWarning(fd, def->name, "nwfilter-edit");
-
-    towrite = strlen(xml);
-    if (safewrite(fd, xml, towrite) != towrite) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot write config file %s"),
-                             nwfilter->configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    if (VIR_CLOSE(fd) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot save config file %s"),
-                             nwfilter->configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    ret = 0;
-
- cleanup:
-    VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
-
+    ret = virXMLSaveFile(nwfilter->configFile, def->name, "nwfilter-edit", xml);
     VIR_FREE(xml);
 
     return ret;
diff --git a/src/conf/storage_conf.c b/src/conf/storage_conf.c
index 55205d40a2390431dcaae8991b4b1a193565f5ac..18cbfdb579eeb1cdbc6a21c92091d29797dee697 100644
--- a/src/conf/storage_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/storage_conf.c
@@ -1525,10 +1525,10 @@ virStoragePoolLoadAllConfigs(virStoragePoolObjListPtr pools,
 int
 virStoragePoolObjSaveDef(virStorageDriverStatePtr driver,
                          virStoragePoolObjPtr pool,
-                         virStoragePoolDefPtr def) {
+                         virStoragePoolDefPtr def)
+{
     char *xml;
-    int fd = -1, ret = -1;
-    ssize_t towrite;
+    int ret = -1;
 
     if (!pool->configFile) {
         if (virFileMakePath(driver->configDir) < 0) {
@@ -1556,36 +1556,7 @@ virStoragePoolObjSaveDef(virStorageDriverStatePtr driver,
         return -1;
     }
 
-    if ((fd = open(pool->configFile,
-                   O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC,
-                   S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR )) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot create config file %s"),
-                             pool->configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    virEmitXMLWarning(fd, def->name, "pool-edit");
-
-    towrite = strlen(xml);
-    if (safewrite(fd, xml, towrite) != towrite) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot write config file %s"),
-                             pool->configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    if (VIR_CLOSE(fd) < 0) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno,
-                             _("cannot save config file %s"),
-                             pool->configFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    ret = 0;
-
- cleanup:
-    VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
+    ret = virXMLSaveFile(pool->configFile, def->name, "pool-edit", xml);
     VIR_FREE(xml);
 
     return ret;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 198ebcc9e44a04692c1cf2e3d57752ed9e8cd24d..e7b20d55e1643acd4d9e737bafb2cfa298f5ddb1 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -1337,7 +1337,6 @@ qemuDomainSnapshotWriteMetadata(virDomainObjPtr vm,
                                 virDomainSnapshotObjPtr snapshot,
                                 char *snapshotDir)
 {
-    int fd = -1;
     char *newxml = NULL;
     int ret = -1;
     char *snapDir = NULL;
@@ -1367,33 +1366,19 @@ qemuDomainSnapshotWriteMetadata(virDomainObjPtr vm,
         virReportOOMError();
         goto cleanup;
     }
-    fd = open(snapFile, O_CREAT|O_TRUNC|O_WRONLY, S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR);
-    if (fd < 0) {
-        qemuReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_FAILED,
-                        _("failed to create snapshot file '%s'"), snapFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
 
     if (virAsprintf(&tmp, "snapshot-edit %s", vm->def->name) < 0) {
         virReportOOMError();
         goto cleanup;
     }
-    virEmitXMLWarning(fd, snapshot->def->name, tmp);
-    VIR_FREE(tmp);
-
-    if (safewrite(fd, newxml, strlen(newxml)) != strlen(newxml)) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno, _("Failed to write snapshot data to %s"),
-                             snapFile);
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
 
-    ret = 0;
+    ret = virXMLSaveFile(snapFile, snapshot->def->name, tmp, newxml);
+    VIR_FREE(tmp);
 
 cleanup:
     VIR_FREE(snapFile);
     VIR_FREE(snapDir);
     VIR_FREE(newxml);
-    VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
     return ret;
 }