diff --git a/include/qemu/keyval.h b/include/qemu/keyval.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2d263286d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/qemu/keyval.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/*
+ * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2 or later.
+ * See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+ */
+#ifndef KEYVAL_H_
+#define KEYVAL_H_
+
+QDict *keyval_parse_into(QDict *qdict, const char *params, const char *implied_key,
+                         bool *p_help, Error **errp);
+QDict *keyval_parse(const char *params, const char *implied_key,
+                    bool *help, Error **errp);
+void keyval_merge(QDict *old, const QDict *new, Error **errp);
+
+#endif /* KEYVAL_H_ */
diff --git a/include/qemu/option.h b/include/qemu/option.h
index bbd86e1c4e..b349828782 100644
--- a/include/qemu/option.h
+++ b/include/qemu/option.h
@@ -144,12 +144,6 @@ void qemu_opts_print_help(QemuOptsList *list, bool print_caption);
 void qemu_opts_free(QemuOptsList *list);
 QemuOptsList *qemu_opts_append(QemuOptsList *dst, QemuOptsList *list);
 
-QDict *keyval_parse_into(QDict *qdict, const char *params, const char *implied_key,
-                         bool *p_help, Error **errp);
-QDict *keyval_parse(const char *params, const char *implied_key,
-                    bool *help, Error **errp);
-void keyval_merge(QDict *old, const QDict *new, Error **errp);
-
 G_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_CLEANUP_FUNC(QemuOpts, qemu_opts_del)
 
 #endif
diff --git a/qapi/qobject-input-visitor.c b/qapi/qobject-input-visitor.c
index f0b4c7ca9d..3e8aca6b15 100644
--- a/qapi/qobject-input-visitor.c
+++ b/qapi/qobject-input-visitor.c
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 #include "qapi/qmp/qnum.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qstring.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
-#include "qemu/option.h"
+#include "qemu/keyval.h"
 
 typedef struct StackObject {
     const char *name;            /* Name of @obj in its parent, if any */
diff --git a/qom/object_interfaces.c b/qom/object_interfaces.c
index 3b61c195c5..f94b6c3193 100644
--- a/qom/object_interfaces.c
+++ b/qom/object_interfaces.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include "qemu/qemu-print.h"
 #include "qapi/opts-visitor.h"
 #include "qemu/config-file.h"
+#include "qemu/keyval.h"
 
 bool user_creatable_complete(UserCreatable *uc, Error **errp)
 {
diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c
index 2a38ebe5fb..5312bd2564 100644
--- a/softmmu/vl.c
+++ b/softmmu/vl.c
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@
 #include "qapi/qmp/qerror.h"
 #include "sysemu/iothread.h"
 #include "qemu/guest-random.h"
+#include "qemu/keyval.h"
 
 #include "config-host.h"
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/check-qom-proplist.c b/tests/unit/check-qom-proplist.c
index ed341088d3..79d4a8b89d 100644
--- a/tests/unit/check-qom-proplist.c
+++ b/tests/unit/check-qom-proplist.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include "qom/object.h"
 #include "qemu/module.h"
 #include "qemu/option.h"
+#include "qemu/keyval.h"
 #include "qemu/config-file.h"
 #include "qom/object_interfaces.h"
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test-forward-visitor.c b/tests/unit/test-forward-visitor.c
index 01de155227..eea8ffc072 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test-forward-visitor.c
+++ b/tests/unit/test-forward-visitor.c
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #include "qapi/qmp/qobject.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qdict.h"
 #include "test-qapi-visit.h"
-#include "qemu/option.h"
+#include "qemu/keyval.h"
 
 typedef bool GenericVisitor (Visitor *, const char *, void **, Error **);
 #define CAST_VISIT_TYPE(fn) ((GenericVisitor *)(fn))
diff --git a/tests/unit/test-keyval.c b/tests/unit/test-keyval.c
index af0581ae6c..4dc52c7a1a 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test-keyval.c
+++ b/tests/unit/test-keyval.c
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #include "qapi/qobject-input-visitor.h"
 #include "test-qapi-visit.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
-#include "qemu/option.h"
+#include "qemu/keyval.h"
 
 static void test_keyval_parse(void)
 {
diff --git a/util/keyval.c b/util/keyval.c
index 0cf2e84dc8..66a5b4740f 100644
--- a/util/keyval.c
+++ b/util/keyval.c
@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@
 #include "qapi/qmp/qlist.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qstring.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
+#include "qemu/keyval.h"
 #include "qemu/help_option.h"
-#include "qemu/option.h"
 
 /*
  * Convert @key to a list index.