diff --git a/src/util/virconf.c b/src/util/virconf.c
index 39c2bd9175..a82a509ca3 100644
--- a/src/util/virconf.c
+++ b/src/util/virconf.c
@@ -705,7 +705,7 @@ virConfParse(const char *filename, const char *content, int len,
 
     ctxt.filename = filename;
     ctxt.base = ctxt.cur = content;
-    ctxt.end = content + len - 1;
+    ctxt.end = content + len;
     ctxt.line = 1;
 
     ctxt.conf = virConfCreate(filename, flags);
@@ -745,7 +745,7 @@ virConfReadFile(const char *filename, unsigned int flags)
 {
     char *content;
     int len;
-    virConfPtr conf = NULL;
+    virConfPtr conf;
 
     VIR_DEBUG("filename=%s", NULLSTR(filename));
 
@@ -757,17 +757,8 @@ virConfReadFile(const char *filename, unsigned int flags)
     if ((len = virFileReadAll(filename, MAX_CONFIG_FILE_SIZE, &content)) < 0)
         return NULL;
 
-    if (len && len < MAX_CONFIG_FILE_SIZE && content[len - 1] != '\n') {
-        VIR_DEBUG("appending newline to busted config file %s", filename);
-        if (VIR_REALLOC_N(content, len + 2) < 0)
-            goto cleanup;
-        content[len++] = '\n';
-        content[len] = '\0';
-    }
-
     conf = virConfParse(filename, content, len, flags);
 
- cleanup:
     VIR_FREE(content);
 
     return conf;
diff --git a/tests/virconftest.c b/tests/virconftest.c
index a8b18bae0f..3cf0df3ac0 100644
--- a/tests/virconftest.c
+++ b/tests/virconftest.c
@@ -77,6 +77,72 @@ static int testConfRoundTrip(const void *opaque)
 }
 
 
+static int testConfMemoryNoNewline(const void *opaque ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
+{
+    const char *srcdata = \
+        "ullong = '123456789'\n" \
+        "string = 'foo'\n" \
+        "uint = 12345";
+
+    virConfPtr conf = virConfReadString(srcdata, 0);
+    int ret = -1;
+    virConfValuePtr val;
+    unsigned long long llvalue;
+    char *str = NULL;
+    int uintvalue;
+
+    if (!conf)
+        return -1;
+
+    if (!(val = virConfGetValue(conf, "ullong")))
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    if (val->type != VIR_CONF_STRING)
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    if (virStrToLong_ull(val->str, NULL, 10, &llvalue) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    if (llvalue != 123456789) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Expected '123' got '%llu'\n", llvalue);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    if (virConfGetValueType(conf, "string") !=
+        VIR_CONF_STRING) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "expected a string for 'string'\n");
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    if (virConfGetValueString(conf, "string", &str) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    if (STRNEQ_NULLABLE(str, "foo")) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Expected 'foo' got '%s'\n", str);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    if (virConfGetValueType(conf, "uint") != VIR_CONF_ULLONG) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "expected an unsigned long for 'uint'\n");
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    if (virConfGetValueInt(conf, "uint", &uintvalue) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    if (uintvalue != 12345) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Expected 12345 got %ud\n", uintvalue);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    ret = 0;
+ cleanup:
+    VIR_FREE(str);
+    virConfFree(conf);
+    return ret;
+}
+
+
 static int testConfParseInt(const void *opaque ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
 {
     const char *srcdata = \
@@ -414,6 +480,9 @@ mymain(void)
     if (virTestRun("no-newline", testConfRoundTrip, "no-newline") < 0)
         ret = -1;
 
+    if (virTestRun("memory-no-newline", testConfMemoryNoNewline, NULL) < 0)
+        ret = -1;
+
     if (virTestRun("int", testConfParseInt, NULL) < 0)
         ret = -1;