diff --git a/src/conf/capabilities.c b/src/conf/capabilities.c
index 9a39858280..bf1d9936ed 100644
--- a/src/conf/capabilities.c
+++ b/src/conf/capabilities.c
@@ -368,27 +368,6 @@ virCapabilitiesHostNUMAAddCell(virCapsHostNUMAPtr caps,
     g_ptr_array_add(caps->cells, cell);
 }
 
-
-/**
- * virCapabilitiesSetHostCPU:
- * @caps: capabilities to extend
- * @cpu: CPU definition
- *
- * Sets host CPU specification
- */
-int
-virCapabilitiesSetHostCPU(virCapsPtr caps,
-                          virCPUDefPtr cpu)
-{
-    if (cpu == NULL)
-        return -1;
-
-    caps->host.cpu = cpu;
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
-
 /**
  * virCapabilitiesAllocMachines:
  * @machines: machine variants for emulator ('pc', or 'isapc', etc)
diff --git a/src/conf/capabilities.h b/src/conf/capabilities.h
index f604e7b95e..4a49e94aa5 100644
--- a/src/conf/capabilities.h
+++ b/src/conf/capabilities.h
@@ -258,12 +258,6 @@ virCapabilitiesHostNUMAAddCell(virCapsHostNUMAPtr caps,
                                int npageinfo,
                                virCapsHostNUMACellPageInfoPtr pageinfo);
 
-
-int
-virCapabilitiesSetHostCPU(virCapsPtr caps,
-                          virCPUDefPtr cpu);
-
-
 virCapsGuestMachinePtr *
 virCapabilitiesAllocMachines(const char *const *names,
                              int nnames);
diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index f46ed29eac..89ce6b4278 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -77,7 +77,6 @@ virCapabilitiesHostSecModelAddBaseLabel;
 virCapabilitiesInitCaches;
 virCapabilitiesInitPages;
 virCapabilitiesNew;
-virCapabilitiesSetHostCPU;
 virCapabilitiesSetNetPrefix;