diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 875ad8a7c7e451f6a6592c7a7edd7cb7849d58ee..ee8bb84041170eb9b7c6e7faec9b83b30c3f116c 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -2071,6 +2071,7 @@ virHashForEach;
 virHashFree;
 virHashGetItems;
 virHashLookup;
+virHashNew;
 virHashRemoveAll;
 virHashRemoveEntry;
 virHashRemoveSet;
diff --git a/src/util/virhash.c b/src/util/virhash.c
index 32de4dabad0e9567b6f80ee15976b20699fb5dce..9384d28002028b26161275abe9ef40153bf9e15f 100644
--- a/src/util/virhash.c
+++ b/src/util/virhash.c
@@ -169,6 +169,27 @@ virHashTablePtr virHashCreateFull(ssize_t size,
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * virHashNew:
+ * @dataFree: callback to free data
+ *
+ * Create a new virHashTablePtr.
+ *
+ * Returns the newly created object, or NULL if an error occurred.
+ */
+virHashTablePtr
+virHashNew(virHashDataFreeSimple dataFree)
+{
+    return virHashCreateFull(32,
+                             NULL,
+                             dataFree,
+                             virHashStrCode,
+                             virHashStrEqual,
+                             virHashStrCopy,
+                             virHashStrFree);
+}
+
+
 /**
  * virHashCreate:
  * @size: the size of the hash table
diff --git a/src/util/virhash.h b/src/util/virhash.h
index 94fe8e23e4957dc01e3d36d6c7c1a32eb6e643d8..d7de0618cb80687c7a4c90babee2f7e53469ada3 100644
--- a/src/util/virhash.h
+++ b/src/util/virhash.h
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ typedef void (*virHashKeyFree)(void *name);
 /*
  * Constructor and destructor.
  */
+virHashTablePtr virHashNew(virHashDataFreeSimple dataFree);
 virHashTablePtr virHashCreate(ssize_t size,
                               virHashDataFree dataFree);
 virHashAtomicPtr virHashAtomicNew(ssize_t size,