diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 5efd8cc671f900bdeb233293f22a4615e67e28c9..497ca54627021adeb69acb58079c290774aeecc9 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -1196,7 +1196,7 @@ Character device backends
 M: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
 M: Marc-André Lureau <marcandre.lureau@redhat.com>
 S: Maintained
-F: qemu-char.c
+F: chardev/
 F: backends/msmouse.c
 F: backends/testdev.c
 
diff --git a/Makefile.objs b/Makefile.objs
index 01cef866e44f6b1fccdebc48b1f63aff2c733bd8..cad4c547409add5bb93bee751c9ef1e9f9b9d1d0 100644
--- a/Makefile.objs
+++ b/Makefile.objs
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ common-obj-$(CONFIG_POSIX) += os-posix.o
 common-obj-$(CONFIG_LINUX) += fsdev/
 
 common-obj-y += migration/
-common-obj-y += qemu-char.o #aio.o
+common-obj-y += chardev/ #aio.o
 common-obj-y += page_cache.o
 
 common-obj-$(CONFIG_SPICE) += spice-qemu-char.o
diff --git a/chardev/Makefile.objs b/chardev/Makefile.objs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3fc55395183536f11180edf2321293fd7eb5c76a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chardev/Makefile.objs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+common-obj-y += char.o
diff --git a/qemu-char.c b/chardev/char.c
similarity index 100%
rename from qemu-char.c
rename to chardev/char.c
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.include b/tests/Makefile.include
index 33b4f887464041f0cf36436795ec4f6e44af0ffb..2145b9877dd6c1e9df31933149401f3378c67d4f 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.include
+++ b/tests/Makefile.include
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ SYSEMU_TARGET_LIST := $(subst -softmmu.mak,,$(notdir \
 check-unit-y = tests/check-qdict$(EXESUF)
 gcov-files-check-qdict-y = qobject/qdict.c
 check-unit-y += tests/test-char$(EXESUF)
-gcov-files-check-qdict-y = qemu-char.c
+gcov-files-check-qdict-y = chardev/char.c
 check-unit-y += tests/check-qfloat$(EXESUF)
 gcov-files-check-qfloat-y = qobject/qfloat.c
 check-unit-y += tests/check-qint$(EXESUF)
@@ -510,7 +510,8 @@ tests/check-qjson$(EXESUF): tests/check-qjson.o $(test-util-obj-y)
 tests/check-qom-interface$(EXESUF): tests/check-qom-interface.o $(test-qom-obj-y)
 tests/check-qom-proplist$(EXESUF): tests/check-qom-proplist.o $(test-qom-obj-y)
 
-tests/test-char$(EXESUF): tests/test-char.o qemu-char.o qemu-timer.o $(test-util-obj-y) $(qtest-obj-y) $(test-block-obj-y)
+tests/test-char$(EXESUF): tests/test-char.o chardev/char.o qemu-timer.o \
+	$(test-util-obj-y) $(qtest-obj-y) $(test-block-obj-y)
 tests/test-coroutine$(EXESUF): tests/test-coroutine.o $(test-block-obj-y)
 tests/test-aio$(EXESUF): tests/test-aio.o $(test-block-obj-y)
 tests/test-throttle$(EXESUF): tests/test-throttle.o $(test-block-obj-y)
@@ -703,7 +704,8 @@ tests/usb-hcd-ehci-test$(EXESUF): tests/usb-hcd-ehci-test.o $(libqos-usb-obj-y)
 tests/usb-hcd-xhci-test$(EXESUF): tests/usb-hcd-xhci-test.o $(libqos-usb-obj-y)
 tests/pc-cpu-test$(EXESUF): tests/pc-cpu-test.o
 tests/postcopy-test$(EXESUF): tests/postcopy-test.o
-tests/vhost-user-test$(EXESUF): tests/vhost-user-test.o qemu-char.o qemu-timer.o $(qtest-obj-y) $(test-io-obj-y) $(libqos-virtio-obj-y) $(libqos-pc-obj-y)
+tests/vhost-user-test$(EXESUF): tests/vhost-user-test.o chardev/char.o qemu-timer.o \
+	$(qtest-obj-y) $(test-io-obj-y) $(libqos-virtio-obj-y) $(libqos-pc-obj-y)
 tests/qemu-iotests/socket_scm_helper$(EXESUF): tests/qemu-iotests/socket_scm_helper.o
 tests/test-qemu-opts$(EXESUF): tests/test-qemu-opts.o $(test-util-obj-y)
 tests/test-write-threshold$(EXESUF): tests/test-write-threshold.o $(test-block-obj-y)