diff --git a/target-i386/cpu.c b/target-i386/cpu.c
index fe62ae124c..c5c767bb80 100644
--- a/target-i386/cpu.c
+++ b/target-i386/cpu.c
@@ -650,85 +650,6 @@ void host_cpuid(uint32_t function, uint32_t count,
         *edx = vec[3];
 }
 
-#define iswhite(c) ((c) && ((c) <= ' ' || '~' < (c)))
-
-/* general substring compare of *[s1..e1) and *[s2..e2).  sx is start of
- * a substring.  ex if !NULL points to the first char after a substring,
- * otherwise the string is assumed to sized by a terminating nul.
- * Return lexical ordering of *s1:*s2.
- */
-static int sstrcmp(const char *s1, const char *e1,
-                   const char *s2, const char *e2)
-{
-    for (;;) {
-        if (!*s1 || !*s2 || *s1 != *s2)
-            return (*s1 - *s2);
-        ++s1, ++s2;
-        if (s1 == e1 && s2 == e2)
-            return (0);
-        else if (s1 == e1)
-            return (*s2);
-        else if (s2 == e2)
-            return (*s1);
-    }
-}
-
-/* compare *[s..e) to *altstr.  *altstr may be a simple string or multiple
- * '|' delimited (possibly empty) strings in which case search for a match
- * within the alternatives proceeds left to right.  Return 0 for success,
- * non-zero otherwise.
- */
-static int altcmp(const char *s, const char *e, const char *altstr)
-{
-    const char *p, *q;
-
-    for (q = p = altstr; ; ) {
-        while (*p && *p != '|')
-            ++p;
-        if ((q == p && !*s) || (q != p && !sstrcmp(s, e, q, p)))
-            return (0);
-        if (!*p)
-            return (1);
-        else
-            q = ++p;
-    }
-}
-
-/* search featureset for flag *[s..e), if found set corresponding bit in
- * *pval and return true, otherwise return false
- */
-static bool lookup_feature(uint32_t *pval, const char *s, const char *e,
-                           const char **featureset)
-{
-    uint32_t mask;
-    const char **ppc;
-    bool found = false;
-
-    for (mask = 1, ppc = featureset; mask; mask <<= 1, ++ppc) {
-        if (*ppc && !altcmp(s, e, *ppc)) {
-            *pval |= mask;
-            found = true;
-        }
-    }
-    return found;
-}
-
-static void add_flagname_to_bitmaps(const char *flagname,
-                                    FeatureWordArray words,
-                                    Error **errp)
-{
-    FeatureWord w;
-    for (w = 0; w < FEATURE_WORDS; w++) {
-        FeatureWordInfo *wi = &feature_word_info[w];
-        if (lookup_feature(&words[w], flagname, NULL, wi->feat_names)) {
-            break;
-        }
-    }
-    if (w == FEATURE_WORDS) {
-        error_setg(errp, "CPU feature %s not found", flagname);
-    }
-}
-
 /* CPU class name definitions: */
 
 #define X86_CPU_TYPE_SUFFIX "-" TYPE_X86_CPU
@@ -2015,8 +1936,7 @@ static inline void feat2prop(char *s)
  * feat=on|feat even if the later is parsed after +-feat
  * (i.e. "-x2apic,x2apic=on" will result in x2apic disabled)
  */
-static FeatureWordArray plus_features = { 0 };
-static FeatureWordArray minus_features = { 0 };
+static GList *plus_features, *minus_features;
 
 /* Parse "+feature,-feature,feature=foo" CPU feature string
  */
@@ -2047,10 +1967,12 @@ static void x86_cpu_parse_featurestr(const char *typename, char *features,
 
         /* Compatibility syntax: */
         if (featurestr[0] == '+') {
-            add_flagname_to_bitmaps(featurestr + 1, plus_features, &local_err);
+            plus_features = g_list_append(plus_features,
+                                          g_strdup(featurestr + 1));
             continue;
         } else if (featurestr[0] == '-') {
-            add_flagname_to_bitmaps(featurestr + 1, minus_features, &local_err);
+            minus_features = g_list_append(minus_features,
+                                           g_strdup(featurestr + 1));
             continue;
         }
 
@@ -3066,6 +2988,7 @@ static void x86_cpu_realizefn(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     Error *local_err = NULL;
     static bool ht_warned;
     FeatureWord w;
+    GList *l;
 
     if (xcc->kvm_required && !kvm_enabled()) {
         char *name = x86_cpu_class_get_model_name(xcc);
@@ -3091,9 +3014,20 @@ static void x86_cpu_realizefn(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
         }
     }
 
-    for (w = 0; w < FEATURE_WORDS; w++) {
-        cpu->env.features[w] |= plus_features[w];
-        cpu->env.features[w] &= ~minus_features[w];
+    for (l = plus_features; l; l = l->next) {
+        const char *prop = l->data;
+        object_property_set_bool(OBJECT(cpu), true, prop, &local_err);
+        if (local_err) {
+            goto out;
+        }
+    }
+
+    for (l = minus_features; l; l = l->next) {
+        const char *prop = l->data;
+        object_property_set_bool(OBJECT(cpu), false, prop, &local_err);
+        if (local_err) {
+            goto out;
+        }
     }
 
     if (!kvm_enabled() || !cpu->expose_kvm) {