diff --git a/include/hw/boards.h b/include/hw/boards.h
index 5a7ae9f59b..2151460f9e 100644
--- a/include/hw/boards.h
+++ b/include/hw/boards.h
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@
 #include "sysemu/blockdev.h"
 #include "hw/qdev.h"
 
+typedef struct QEMUMachine QEMUMachine;
+
 typedef struct QEMUMachineInitArgs {
+    const QEMUMachine *machine;
     ram_addr_t ram_size;
     const char *boot_order;
     const char *kernel_filename;
@@ -21,7 +24,7 @@ typedef void QEMUMachineResetFunc(void);
 
 typedef void QEMUMachineHotAddCPUFunc(const int64_t id, Error **errp);
 
-typedef struct QEMUMachine {
+struct QEMUMachine {
     const char *name;
     const char *alias;
     const char *desc;
@@ -43,7 +46,7 @@ typedef struct QEMUMachine {
     GlobalProperty *compat_props;
     struct QEMUMachine *next;
     const char *hw_version;
-} QEMUMachine;
+};
 
 int qemu_register_machine(QEMUMachine *m);
 QEMUMachine *find_default_machine(void);
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index b0399de25f..29e566fefa 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -4239,7 +4239,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
 
     qdev_machine_init();
 
-    QEMUMachineInitArgs args = { .ram_size = ram_size,
+    QEMUMachineInitArgs args = { .machine = machine,
+                                 .ram_size = ram_size,
                                  .boot_order = boot_order,
                                  .kernel_filename = kernel_filename,
                                  .kernel_cmdline = kernel_cmdline,