diff --git a/arch_init.c b/arch_init.c
index fa059731ed..5cc58b2c35 100644
--- a/arch_init.c
+++ b/arch_init.c
@@ -235,25 +235,6 @@ void audio_init(void)
     }
 }
 
-int qemu_uuid_parse(const char *str, uint8_t *uuid)
-{
-    int ret;
-
-    if (strlen(str) != 36) {
-        return -1;
-    }
-
-    ret = sscanf(str, UUID_FMT, &uuid[0], &uuid[1], &uuid[2], &uuid[3],
-                 &uuid[4], &uuid[5], &uuid[6], &uuid[7], &uuid[8], &uuid[9],
-                 &uuid[10], &uuid[11], &uuid[12], &uuid[13], &uuid[14],
-                 &uuid[15]);
-
-    if (ret != 16) {
-        return -1;
-    }
-    return 0;
-}
-
 void do_acpitable_option(const QemuOpts *opts)
 {
 #ifdef TARGET_I386
diff --git a/block/iscsi.c b/block/iscsi.c
index c4a0937419..40f88a2490 100644
--- a/block/iscsi.c
+++ b/block/iscsi.c
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 #include "block/block_int.h"
 #include "block/scsi.h"
 #include "qemu/iov.h"
-#include "sysemu/sysemu.h"
+#include "qemu/uuid.h"
 #include "qmp-commands.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qstring.h"
 #include "crypto/secret.h"
diff --git a/hw/smbios/smbios.c b/hw/smbios/smbios.c
index 74c7102929..0705eb1dbd 100644
--- a/hw/smbios/smbios.c
+++ b/hw/smbios/smbios.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "qemu/config-file.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
 #include "sysemu/sysemu.h"
+#include "qemu/uuid.h"
 #include "sysemu/cpus.h"
 #include "hw/smbios/smbios.h"
 #include "hw/loader.h"
diff --git a/include/qemu/uuid.h b/include/qemu/uuid.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bc0601e65b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/qemu/uuid.h
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ *  QEMU UUID functions
+ *
+ *  Copyright 2016 Red Hat, Inc.
+ *
+ *  Authors:
+ *   Fam Zheng <famz@redhat.com>
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
+ * Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
+ * any later version.
+ *
+ */
+
+#ifndef QEMU_UUID_H
+#define QEMU_UUID_H
+
+#include "qemu-common.h"
+
+/* Version 4 UUID (pseudo random numbers), RFC4122 4.4. */
+
+typedef struct {
+    union {
+        unsigned char data[16];
+        struct {
+            /* Generated in BE endian, can be swapped with qemu_uuid_bswap. */
+            uint32_t time_low;
+            uint16_t time_mid;
+            uint16_t time_high_and_version;
+            uint8_t  clock_seq_and_reserved;
+            uint8_t  clock_seq_low;
+            uint8_t  node[6];
+        } fields;
+    };
+} QemuUUID;
+
+#define UUID_FMT "%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx-" \
+                 "%02hhx%02hhx-%02hhx%02hhx-" \
+                 "%02hhx%02hhx-" \
+                 "%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx"
+
+#define UUID_FMT_LEN 36
+
+#define UUID_NONE "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
+
+void qemu_uuid_generate(QemuUUID *out);
+
+int qemu_uuid_is_null(const QemuUUID *uu);
+
+void qemu_uuid_unparse(const QemuUUID *uuid, char *out);
+
+char *qemu_uuid_unparse_strdup(const QemuUUID *uuid);
+
+int qemu_uuid_parse(const char *str, uint8_t *uuid);
+
+void qemu_uuid_bswap(QemuUUID *uuid);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
index ee7c7608e0..6111950d51 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
@@ -18,10 +18,6 @@ extern const char *bios_name;
 extern const char *qemu_name;
 extern uint8_t qemu_uuid[];
 extern bool qemu_uuid_set;
-int qemu_uuid_parse(const char *str, uint8_t *uuid);
-
-#define UUID_FMT "%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx-%02hhx%02hhx-%02hhx%02hhx-%02hhx%02hhx-%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx%02hhx"
-#define UUID_NONE "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
 
 bool runstate_check(RunState state);
 void runstate_set(RunState new_state);
diff --git a/qmp.c b/qmp.c
index 6733463fa2..524da629f8 100644
--- a/qmp.c
+++ b/qmp.c
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
 #include "monitor/monitor.h"
 #include "sysemu/sysemu.h"
+#include "qemu/uuid.h"
 #include "qmp-commands.h"
 #include "sysemu/char.h"
 #include "ui/qemu-spice.h"
diff --git a/stubs/uuid.c b/stubs/uuid.c
index 92ad717831..a880de8d61 100644
--- a/stubs/uuid.c
+++ b/stubs/uuid.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "qemu-common.h"
-#include "sysemu/sysemu.h"
+#include "qemu/uuid.h"
 #include "qmp-commands.h"
 
 UuidInfo *qmp_query_uuid(Error **errp)
diff --git a/util/Makefile.objs b/util/Makefile.objs
index ffca8f3002..36c7dcc1fa 100644
--- a/util/Makefile.objs
+++ b/util/Makefile.objs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ util-obj-y += iov.o qemu-config.o qemu-sockets.o uri.o notify.o
 util-obj-y += qemu-option.o qemu-progress.o
 util-obj-y += hexdump.o
 util-obj-y += crc32c.o
+util-obj-y += uuid.o
 util-obj-y += throttle.o
 util-obj-y += getauxval.o
 util-obj-y += readline.o
diff --git a/util/uuid.c b/util/uuid.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6815904435
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/uuid.c
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+/*
+ *  QEMU UUID functions
+ *
+ *  Copyright 2016 Red Hat, Inc.
+ *
+ *  Authors:
+ *   Fam Zheng <famz@redhat.com>
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
+ * Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
+ * any later version.
+ *
+ */
+
+#include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "qemu-common.h"
+#include "qemu/uuid.h"
+#include "qemu/bswap.h"
+
+void qemu_uuid_generate(QemuUUID *uuid)
+{
+    int i;
+    uint32_t tmp[4];
+
+    QEMU_BUILD_BUG_ON(sizeof(QemuUUID) != 16);
+
+    for (i = 0; i < 4; ++i) {
+        tmp[i] = g_random_int();
+    }
+    memcpy(uuid, tmp, sizeof(tmp));
+    /* Set the two most significant bits (bits 6 and 7) of the
+      clock_seq_hi_and_reserved to zero and one, respectively. */
+    uuid->data[8] = (uuid->data[8] & 0x3f) | 0x80;
+    /* Set the four most significant bits (bits 12 through 15) of the
+      time_hi_and_version field to the 4-bit version number.
+      */
+    uuid->data[6] = (uuid->data[6] & 0xf) | 0x40;
+}
+
+int qemu_uuid_is_null(const QemuUUID *uu)
+{
+    QemuUUID null_uuid = { 0 };
+    return memcmp(uu, &null_uuid, sizeof(QemuUUID)) == 0;
+}
+
+void qemu_uuid_unparse(const QemuUUID *uuid, char *out)
+{
+    const unsigned char *uu = &uuid->data[0];
+    snprintf(out, UUID_FMT_LEN + 1, UUID_FMT,
+             uu[0], uu[1], uu[2], uu[3], uu[4], uu[5], uu[6], uu[7],
+             uu[8], uu[9], uu[10], uu[11], uu[12], uu[13], uu[14], uu[15]);
+}
+
+char *qemu_uuid_unparse_strdup(const QemuUUID *uuid)
+{
+    const unsigned char *uu = &uuid->data[0];
+    return g_strdup_printf(UUID_FMT,
+                           uu[0], uu[1], uu[2], uu[3], uu[4], uu[5], uu[6],
+                           uu[7], uu[8], uu[9], uu[10], uu[11], uu[12],
+                           uu[13], uu[14], uu[15]);
+}
+
+int qemu_uuid_parse(const char *str, uint8_t *uuid)
+{
+    int ret;
+
+    if (strlen(str) != 36) {
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    ret = sscanf(str, UUID_FMT, &uuid[0], &uuid[1], &uuid[2], &uuid[3],
+                 &uuid[4], &uuid[5], &uuid[6], &uuid[7], &uuid[8], &uuid[9],
+                 &uuid[10], &uuid[11], &uuid[12], &uuid[13], &uuid[14],
+                 &uuid[15]);
+
+    if (ret != 16) {
+        return -1;
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+
+/* Swap from UUID format endian (BE) to the opposite or vice versa.
+ */
+void qemu_uuid_bswap(QemuUUID *uuid)
+{
+    assert(QEMU_PTR_IS_ALIGNED(uuid, sizeof(uint32_t)));
+    bswap32s(&uuid->fields.time_low);
+    bswap16s(&uuid->fields.time_mid);
+    bswap16s(&uuid->fields.time_high_and_version);
+}
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index fd321e2fd4..38395019f1 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include "qemu-version.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
 #include "qemu/help_option.h"
+#include "qemu/uuid.h"
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_SECCOMP
 #include "sysemu/seccomp.h"