diff --git a/lib/guestfs-internal.h b/lib/guestfs-internal.h
index 5327cf59f..073e665d3 100644
--- a/lib/guestfs-internal.h
+++ b/lib/guestfs-internal.h
@@ -794,7 +794,6 @@ void guestfs_int_init_libvirt_backend (void) __attribute__((constructor));
 struct qemu_data;
 extern struct qemu_data *guestfs_int_test_qemu (guestfs_h *g);
 extern struct version guestfs_int_qemu_version (guestfs_h *g, struct qemu_data *);
-extern int guestfs_int_qemu_supports (guestfs_h *g, const struct qemu_data *, const char *option);
 extern int guestfs_int_qemu_supports_device (guestfs_h *g, const struct qemu_data *, const char *device_name);
 extern bool guestfs_int_platform_has_kvm (guestfs_h *g, const struct qemu_data *data);
 extern char *guestfs_int_drive_source_qemu_param (guestfs_h *g, const struct drive_source *src);
diff --git a/lib/qemu.c b/lib/qemu.c
index 4d163ce83..ac8bf678b 100644
--- a/lib/qemu.c
+++ b/lib/qemu.c
@@ -588,17 +588,6 @@ guestfs_int_qemu_version (guestfs_h *g, struct qemu_data *data)
   return data->qemu_version;
 }
 
-/**
- * Test if option is supported by qemu command line (just by grepping
- * the help text).
- */
-int
-guestfs_int_qemu_supports (guestfs_h *g, const struct qemu_data *data,
-                           const char *option)
-{
-  return strstr (data->qemu_help, option) != NULL;
-}
-
 /**
  * Test if device is supported by qemu (currently just greps the
  * C<qemu -device ?> output).