diff --git a/hmp.c b/hmp.c
index 336e7bf076..3c421828ff 100644
--- a/hmp.c
+++ b/hmp.c
@@ -1909,6 +1909,7 @@ void hmp_chardev_add(Monitor *mon, const QDict *qdict)
         error_setg(&err, "Parsing chardev args failed");
     } else {
         qemu_chr_new_from_opts(opts, NULL, &err);
+        qemu_opts_del(opts);
     }
     hmp_handle_error(mon, &err);
 }
diff --git a/include/sysemu/char.h b/include/sysemu/char.h
index 0d0465ae0e..19dad3fb9c 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/char.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/char.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include "qapi/qmp/qobject.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qstring.h"
 #include "qemu/main-loop.h"
+#include "qemu/bitmap.h"
 
 /* character device */
 
@@ -58,6 +59,20 @@ struct ParallelIOArg {
 
 typedef void IOEventHandler(void *opaque, int event);
 
+typedef enum {
+    /* Whether the chardev peer is able to close and
+     * reopen the data channel, thus requiring support
+     * for qemu_chr_wait_connected() to wait for a
+     * valid connection */
+    QEMU_CHAR_FEATURE_RECONNECTABLE,
+    /* Whether it is possible to send/recv file descriptors
+     * over the data channel */
+    QEMU_CHAR_FEATURE_FD_PASS,
+
+    QEMU_CHAR_FEATURE_LAST,
+} CharDriverFeature;
+
+
 struct CharDriverState {
     QemuMutex chr_write_lock;
     void (*init)(struct CharDriverState *s);
@@ -93,8 +108,8 @@ struct CharDriverState {
     int avail_connections;
     int is_mux;
     guint fd_in_tag;
-    QemuOpts *opts;
     bool replay;
+    DECLARE_BITMAP(features, QEMU_CHAR_FEATURE_LAST);
     QTAILQ_ENTRY(CharDriverState) next;
 };
 
@@ -437,6 +452,10 @@ int qemu_chr_add_client(CharDriverState *s, int fd);
 CharDriverState *qemu_chr_find(const char *name);
 bool chr_is_ringbuf(const CharDriverState *chr);
 
+bool qemu_chr_has_feature(CharDriverState *chr,
+                          CharDriverFeature feature);
+void qemu_chr_set_feature(CharDriverState *chr,
+                          CharDriverFeature feature);
 QemuOpts *qemu_chr_parse_compat(const char *label, const char *filename);
 
 void register_char_driver(const char *name, ChardevBackendKind kind,
diff --git a/net/colo-compare.c b/net/colo-compare.c
index 22b1da19f5..47703c59bc 100644
--- a/net/colo-compare.c
+++ b/net/colo-compare.c
@@ -564,29 +564,6 @@ static void compare_sec_rs_finalize(SocketReadState *sec_rs)
     }
 }
 
-static int compare_chardev_opts(void *opaque,
-                                const char *name, const char *value,
-                                Error **errp)
-{
-    CompareChardevProps *props = opaque;
-
-    if (strcmp(name, "backend") == 0 &&
-        strcmp(value, "socket") == 0) {
-        props->is_socket = true;
-        return 0;
-    } else if (strcmp(name, "host") == 0 ||
-              (strcmp(name, "port") == 0) ||
-              (strcmp(name, "server") == 0) ||
-              (strcmp(name, "wait") == 0) ||
-              (strcmp(name, "path") == 0)) {
-        return 0;
-    } else {
-        error_setg(errp,
-                   "COLO-compare does not support a chardev with option %s=%s",
-                   name, value);
-        return -1;
-    }
-}
 
 /*
  * Return 0 is success.
@@ -606,12 +583,9 @@ static int find_and_check_chardev(CharDriverState **chr,
     }
 
     memset(&props, 0, sizeof(props));
-    if (qemu_opt_foreach((*chr)->opts, compare_chardev_opts, &props, errp)) {
-        return 1;
-    }
 
-    if (!props.is_socket) {
-        error_setg(errp, "chardev \"%s\" is not a tcp socket",
+    if (!qemu_chr_has_feature(*chr, QEMU_CHAR_FEATURE_RECONNECTABLE)) {
+        error_setg(errp, "chardev \"%s\" is not reconnectable",
                    chr_name);
         return 1;
     }
diff --git a/net/vhost-user.c b/net/vhost-user.c
index b0595f8781..5b94c84541 100644
--- a/net/vhost-user.c
+++ b/net/vhost-user.c
@@ -27,11 +27,6 @@ typedef struct VhostUserState {
     bool started;
 } VhostUserState;
 
-typedef struct VhostUserChardevProps {
-    bool is_socket;
-    bool is_unix;
-} VhostUserChardevProps;
-
 VHostNetState *vhost_user_get_vhost_net(NetClientState *nc)
 {
     VhostUserState *s = DO_UPCAST(VhostUserState, nc, nc);
@@ -278,45 +273,23 @@ static int net_vhost_user_init(NetClientState *peer, const char *device,
     return 0;
 }
 
-static int net_vhost_chardev_opts(void *opaque,
-                                  const char *name, const char *value,
-                                  Error **errp)
-{
-    VhostUserChardevProps *props = opaque;
-
-    if (strcmp(name, "backend") == 0 && strcmp(value, "socket") == 0) {
-        props->is_socket = true;
-    } else if (strcmp(name, "path") == 0) {
-        props->is_unix = true;
-    } else if (strcmp(name, "server") == 0) {
-    } else {
-        error_setg(errp,
-                   "vhost-user does not support a chardev with option %s=%s",
-                   name, value);
-        return -1;
-    }
-    return 0;
-}
-
-static CharDriverState *net_vhost_parse_chardev(
+static CharDriverState *net_vhost_claim_chardev(
     const NetdevVhostUserOptions *opts, Error **errp)
 {
     CharDriverState *chr = qemu_chr_find(opts->chardev);
-    VhostUserChardevProps props;
 
     if (chr == NULL) {
         error_setg(errp, "chardev \"%s\" not found", opts->chardev);
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    /* inspect chardev opts */
-    memset(&props, 0, sizeof(props));
-    if (qemu_opt_foreach(chr->opts, net_vhost_chardev_opts, &props, errp)) {
+    if (!qemu_chr_has_feature(chr, QEMU_CHAR_FEATURE_RECONNECTABLE)) {
+        error_setg(errp, "chardev \"%s\" is not reconnectable",
+                   opts->chardev);
         return NULL;
     }
-
-    if (!props.is_socket || !props.is_unix) {
-        error_setg(errp, "chardev \"%s\" is not a unix socket",
+    if (!qemu_chr_has_feature(chr, QEMU_CHAR_FEATURE_FD_PASS)) {
+        error_setg(errp, "chardev \"%s\" does not support FD passing",
                    opts->chardev);
         return NULL;
     }
@@ -357,7 +330,7 @@ int net_init_vhost_user(const Netdev *netdev, const char *name,
     assert(netdev->type == NET_CLIENT_DRIVER_VHOST_USER);
     vhost_user_opts = &netdev->u.vhost_user;
 
-    chr = net_vhost_parse_chardev(vhost_user_opts, errp);
+    chr = net_vhost_claim_chardev(vhost_user_opts, errp);
     if (!chr) {
         return -1;
     }
diff --git a/qemu-char.c b/qemu-char.c
index fb456cec34..768150d1f8 100644
--- a/qemu-char.c
+++ b/qemu-char.c
@@ -3996,7 +3996,6 @@ CharDriverState *qemu_chr_new_from_opts(QemuOpts *opts,
     }
 
     chr = qemu_chr_find(id);
-    chr->opts = opts;
 
 qapi_out:
     qapi_free_ChardevBackend(backend);
@@ -4005,7 +4004,6 @@ qapi_out:
     return chr;
 
 err:
-    qemu_opts_del(opts);
     return NULL;
 }
 
@@ -4033,6 +4031,7 @@ CharDriverState *qemu_chr_new_noreplay(const char *label, const char *filename,
         qemu_chr_fe_claim_no_fail(chr);
         monitor_init(chr, MONITOR_USE_READLINE);
     }
+    qemu_opts_del(opts);
     return chr;
 }
 
@@ -4132,7 +4131,6 @@ static void qemu_chr_free_common(CharDriverState *chr)
 {
     g_free(chr->filename);
     g_free(chr->label);
-    qemu_opts_del(chr->opts);
     if (chr->logfd != -1) {
         close(chr->logfd);
     }
@@ -4513,6 +4511,11 @@ static CharDriverState *qmp_chardev_open_socket(const char *id,
 
     s->addr = QAPI_CLONE(SocketAddress, sock->addr);
 
+    qemu_chr_set_feature(chr, QEMU_CHAR_FEATURE_RECONNECTABLE);
+    if (s->is_unix) {
+        qemu_chr_set_feature(chr, QEMU_CHAR_FEATURE_FD_PASS);
+    }
+
     chr->opaque = s;
     chr->chr_wait_connected = tcp_chr_wait_connected;
     chr->chr_write = tcp_chr_write;
@@ -4596,6 +4599,19 @@ static CharDriverState *qmp_chardev_open_udp(const char *id,
     return qemu_chr_open_udp(sioc, common, errp);
 }
 
+
+bool qemu_chr_has_feature(CharDriverState *chr,
+                          CharDriverFeature feature)
+{
+    return test_bit(feature, chr->features);
+}
+
+void qemu_chr_set_feature(CharDriverState *chr,
+                           CharDriverFeature feature)
+{
+    return set_bit(feature, chr->features);
+}
+
 ChardevReturn *qmp_chardev_add(const char *id, ChardevBackend *backend,
                                Error **errp)
 {