diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 94a694f060..edabea2bd7 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+Wed May 21 15:42:29 EST 2008 Daniel P. Berrange <berrange@redhat.com>
+
+	* src/qemu_conf.c: Run qemu with -help and don't pollute
+	libvirtd environment
+
 Tue May 20 12:15:29 EST 2008 Daniel P. Berrange <berrange@redhat.com>
 
 	* qemud/qemud.c: Re-factor daemon startup code to avoid
diff --git a/src/qemu_conf.c b/src/qemu_conf.c
index d6afe59291..6015e99014 100644
--- a/src/qemu_conf.c
+++ b/src/qemu_conf.c
@@ -448,6 +448,9 @@ static int qemudExtractVersionInfo(const char *qemu, int *version, int *flags) {
     }
 
     if (child == 0) { /* Kid */
+        /* Just in case QEMU is translated someday we force to C locale.. */
+        const char *const qemuenv[] = { "LANG=C", NULL };
+
         if (close(STDIN_FILENO) < 0)
             goto cleanup1;
         if (close(STDERR_FILENO) < 0)
@@ -457,9 +460,9 @@ static int qemudExtractVersionInfo(const char *qemu, int *version, int *flags) {
         if (dup2(newstdout[1], STDOUT_FILENO) < 0)
             goto cleanup1;
 
-        /* Just in case QEMU is translated someday.. */
-        setenv("LANG", "C", 1);
-        execl(qemu, qemu, (char*)NULL);
+        /* Passing -help, rather than relying on no-args which doesn't
+           always work */
+        execle(qemu, qemu, "-help", (char*)NULL, qemuenv);
 
     cleanup1:
         _exit(-1); /* Just in case */