diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 23cefcbbc..bbd9284c6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ Makefile.in
 /common/miniexpect/miniexpect.3
 /common/mlprogress/.depend
 /common/mlstdutils/.depend
+/common/mlstdutils/bytes.ml
 /common/mlstdutils/guestfs_config.ml
 /common/mlstdutils/libdir.ml
 /common/mlstdutils/oUnit-*
@@ -275,7 +276,6 @@ Makefile.in
 /fuse/test-guestmount-fd
 /fuse/test-guestunmount-fd
 /generator/.depend
-/generator/bytes.ml
 /generator/common_utils.ml
 /generator/common_utils.mli
 /generator/files-generated.txt
@@ -366,7 +366,6 @@ Makefile.in
 /make-fs/virt-make-fs.1
 /missing
 /mllib/.depend
-/mllib/bytes.ml
 /mllib/common_gettext.ml
 /mllib/common_utils_tests
 /mllib/getopt_tests
diff --git a/generator/Makefile.am b/generator/Makefile.am
index 401029d34..3f54ad51d 100644
--- a/generator/Makefile.am
+++ b/generator/Makefile.am
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ sources = \
 
 # In build dependency order.
 objects = \
-	$(OCAML_GENERATOR_BYTES_COMPAT_CMO) \
+	$(OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_CMO) \
 	../common/mlstdutils/guestfs_config.cmo \
 	../common/mlstdutils/std_utils.cmo \
 	types.cmo \
diff --git a/m4/guestfs_ocaml.m4 b/m4/guestfs_ocaml.m4
index d8bd89f00..c18a3de40 100644
--- a/m4/guestfs_ocaml.m4
+++ b/m4/guestfs_ocaml.m4
@@ -113,27 +113,23 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_OCAML_GETTEXT],
     [test "x$OCAMLC" != "xno" && test "x$OCAMLFIND" != "xno" && test "x$OCAML_PKG_gettext" != "xno" && test "x$OCAML_GETTEXT" != "xno"])
 
 dnl Create the backwards compatibility Bytes module for OCaml < 4.02.
-mkdir -p generator mllib
-rm -f generator/bytes.ml mllib/bytes.ml
+mkdir -p common/mlstdutils
+rm -f common/mlstdutils/bytes.ml
 AS_IF([test "x$have_Bytes_module" = "xno"],[
-    cat > generator/bytes.ml <<EOF
+    cat > common/mlstdutils/bytes.ml <<EOF
 include String
 let of_string = String.copy
 let to_string = String.copy
 let sub_string = String.sub
 EOF
-    ln -s ../generator/bytes.ml mllib/bytes.ml
-    OCAML_GENERATOR_BYTES_COMPAT_CMO='$(top_builddir)/generator/bytes.cmo'
-    OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_CMO='$(top_builddir)/mllib/bytes.cmo'
-    OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_ML='$(top_builddir)/mllib/bytes.ml'
+    OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_CMO='$(top_builddir)/common/mlstdutils/bytes.cmo'
+    OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_ML='$(top_builddir)/common/mlstdutils/bytes.ml'
     safe_string_option=
 ],[
-    OCAML_GENERATOR_BYTES_COMPAT_CMO=
     OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_CMO=
     OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_ML=
     safe_string_option="-safe-string"
 ])
-AC_SUBST([OCAML_GENERATOR_BYTES_COMPAT_CMO])
 AC_SUBST([OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_CMO])
 AC_SUBST([OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_ML])
 
diff --git a/mllib/Makefile.am b/mllib/Makefile.am
index ad86ac58e..49bd5e7fb 100644
--- a/mllib/Makefile.am
+++ b/mllib/Makefile.am
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ SOURCES_MLI = \
 	xpath_helpers.mli
 
 SOURCES_ML = \
-	$(OCAML_BYTES_COMPAT_ML) \
 	common_gettext.ml \
 	getopt.ml \
 	common_utils.ml \