diff --git a/accel/accel.c b/accel/accel.c
index 9cfab115d0..966b2d8f53 100644
--- a/accel/accel.c
+++ b/accel/accel.c
@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ static int accel_init_machine(AccelClass *acc, MachineState *ms)
 
 void configure_accelerator(MachineState *ms)
 {
-    const char *accel, *p;
-    char buf[10];
+    const char *accel;
+    char **accel_list, **tmp;
     int ret;
     bool accel_initialised = false;
     bool init_failed = false;
@@ -83,13 +83,10 @@ void configure_accelerator(MachineState *ms)
         accel = "tcg";
     }
 
-    p = accel;
-    while (!accel_initialised && *p != '\0') {
-        if (*p == ':') {
-            p++;
-        }
-        p = get_opt_name(buf, sizeof(buf), p, ':');
-        acc = accel_find(buf);
+    accel_list = g_strsplit(accel, ":", 0);
+
+    for (tmp = accel_list; !accel_initialised && tmp && *tmp; tmp++) {
+        acc = accel_find(*tmp);
         if (!acc) {
             continue;
         }
@@ -107,6 +104,7 @@ void configure_accelerator(MachineState *ms)
             accel_initialised = true;
         }
     }
+    g_strfreev(accel_list);
 
     if (!accel_initialised) {
         if (!init_failed) {
diff --git a/include/qemu/option.h b/include/qemu/option.h
index 306fdb5f7a..1cfe5cbc2d 100644
--- a/include/qemu/option.h
+++ b/include/qemu/option.h
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 
 #include "qemu/queue.h"
 
-const char *get_opt_name(char *buf, int buf_size, const char *p, char delim);
 const char *get_opt_value(char *buf, int buf_size, const char *p);
 
 void parse_option_size(const char *name, const char *value,
diff --git a/util/qemu-option.c b/util/qemu-option.c
index d0756fda58..baca40fb94 100644
--- a/util/qemu-option.c
+++ b/util/qemu-option.c
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@
  * The return value is the position of the delimiter/zero byte after the option
  * name in p.
  */
-const char *get_opt_name(char *buf, int buf_size, const char *p, char delim)
+static const char *get_opt_name(char *buf, int buf_size, const char *p,
+                                char delim)
 {
     char *q;