diff --git a/include/libvirt/libvirt.h.in b/include/libvirt/libvirt.h.in
index 2eba61ee50f19e2db97288bfcfcc20a7e217f1a0..d0cc4c0631a0edfa6988fbb59e3a0e2f8dbf70c8 100644
--- a/include/libvirt/libvirt.h.in
+++ b/include/libvirt/libvirt.h.in
@@ -915,8 +915,23 @@ struct _virVcpuInfo {
 };
 typedef virVcpuInfo *virVcpuInfoPtr;
 
+/* Flags for controlling virtual CPU hot-plugging.  */
+typedef enum {
+    /* Must choose at least one of these two bits; SetVcpus can choose both */
+    VIR_DOMAIN_VCPU_LIVE    = (1 << 0), /* Affect active domain */
+    VIR_DOMAIN_VCPU_CONFIG  = (1 << 1), /* Affect next boot */
+
+    /* Additional flags to be bit-wise OR'd in */
+    VIR_DOMAIN_VCPU_MAXIMUM = (1 << 2), /* Max rather than current count */
+} virDomainVcpuFlags;
+
 int                     virDomainSetVcpus       (virDomainPtr domain,
                                                  unsigned int nvcpus);
+int                     virDomainSetVcpusFlags  (virDomainPtr domain,
+                                                 unsigned int nvcpus,
+                                                 unsigned int flags);
+int                     virDomainGetVcpusFlags  (virDomainPtr domain,
+                                                 unsigned int flags);
 
 int                     virDomainPinVcpu        (virDomainPtr domain,
                                                  unsigned int vcpu,
diff --git a/src/libvirt_public.syms b/src/libvirt_public.syms
index fceb516e3e1b30e5add2c4be5f47d0888755eec5..a8091b18e9408c93d4a971f4de47f414c825344b 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_public.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_public.syms
@@ -409,6 +409,8 @@ LIBVIRT_0.8.5 {
     global:
         virDomainSetMemoryParameters;
         virDomainGetMemoryParameters;
+        virDomainGetVcpusFlags;
+        virDomainSetVcpusFlags;
 } LIBVIRT_0.8.2;
 
 # .... define new API here using predicted next version number ....