diff --git a/include/libvirt/libvirt.h.in b/include/libvirt/libvirt.h.in
index 6d0c042dfd..aced31c5dd 100644
--- a/include/libvirt/libvirt.h.in
+++ b/include/libvirt/libvirt.h.in
@@ -2638,6 +2638,8 @@ typedef enum {
     VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_RELATIVE  = 1 << 4, /* Keep backing chain
                                                    referenced using relative
                                                    names */
+    VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV  = 1 << 5, /* Treat destination as block
+                                                   device instead of file */
 } virDomainBlockRebaseFlags;
 
 int           virDomainBlockRebase(virDomainPtr dom, const char *disk,
diff --git a/src/libvirt.c b/src/libvirt.c
index b00ee16760..4806535950 100644
--- a/src/libvirt.c
+++ b/src/libvirt.c
@@ -19885,7 +19885,10 @@ virDomainBlockPull(virDomainPtr dom, const char *disk,
  * pre-create files with relative backing file names, rather than the default
  * of absolute backing file names; as a security precaution, you should
  * generally only use reuse_ext with the shallow flag and a non-raw
- * destination file.
+ * destination file.  By default, the copy destination will be treated as
+ * type='file', but using VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV treats the
+ * destination as type='block' (affecting how virDomainGetBlockInfo() will
+ * report allocation after pivoting).
  *
  * A copy job has two parts; in the first phase, the @bandwidth parameter
  * affects how fast the source is pulled into the destination, and the job
@@ -19960,7 +19963,8 @@ virDomainBlockRebase(virDomainPtr dom, const char *disk,
         virCheckNonNullArgGoto(base, error);
     } else if (flags & (VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_SHALLOW |
                         VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT |
-                        VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_RAW)) {
+                        VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_RAW |
+                        VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV)) {
         virReportInvalidArg(flags,
                             _("use of flags in %s requires a copy job"),
                             __FUNCTION__);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 16a89c85f7..4bf754f072 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -15372,7 +15372,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockCopy(virDomainObjPtr vm,
 
     /* Preliminaries: find the disk we are editing, sanity checks */
     virCheckFlags(VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_SHALLOW |
-                  VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT, -1);
+                  VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT |
+                  VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV, -1);
 
     priv = vm->privateData;
     cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(driver);
@@ -15433,25 +15434,34 @@ qemuDomainBlockCopy(virDomainObjPtr vm,
             virReportSystemError(errno, _("unable to stat for disk %s: %s"),
                                  disk->dst, dest);
             goto endjob;
-        } else if (flags & VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT) {
+        } else if (flags & (VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT |
+                            VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV)) {
             virReportSystemError(errno,
                                  _("missing destination file for disk %s: %s"),
                                  disk->dst, dest);
             goto endjob;
         }
-    } else if (!S_ISBLK(st.st_mode) && st.st_size &&
-               !(flags & VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("external destination file for disk %s already "
-                         "exists and is not a block device: %s"),
-                       disk->dst, dest);
-        goto endjob;
+    } else if (!S_ISBLK(st.st_mode)) {
+        if (st.st_size && !(flags & VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT)) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
+                           _("external destination file for disk %s already "
+                             "exists and is not a block device: %s"),
+                           disk->dst, dest);
+            goto endjob;
+        }
+        if (flags & VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INVALID_ARG,
+                           _("blockdev flag requested for disk %s, but file "
+                             "'%s' is not a block device"), disk->dst, dest);
+            goto endjob;
+        }
     }
 
     if (VIR_ALLOC(mirror) < 0)
         goto endjob;
     /* XXX Allow non-file mirror destinations */
-    mirror->type = VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_FILE;
+    mirror->type = flags & VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV ?
+        VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_BLOCK : VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_FILE;
 
     if (format) {
         if ((mirror->format = virStorageFileFormatTypeFromString(format)) <= 0) {
@@ -15546,7 +15556,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockRebase(virDomainPtr dom, const char *path, const char *base,
                   VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT |
                   VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY |
                   VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_RAW |
-                  VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_RELATIVE, -1);
+                  VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_RELATIVE |
+                  VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV, -1);
 
     if (!(vm = qemuDomObjFromDomain(dom)))
         return -1;
@@ -15583,7 +15594,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockRebase(virDomainPtr dom, const char *path, const char *base,
     }
 
     flags &= (VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_SHALLOW |
-              VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT);
+              VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT |
+              VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV);
     ret = qemuDomainBlockCopy(vm, dom->conn, path, base, format,
                               bandwidth, flags);
     vm = NULL;
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-mirror.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-mirror.xml
index 46f2a3eef0..7495a45856 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-mirror.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-mirror.xml
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@
     <disk type='block' device='disk'>
       <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
       <backingStore/>
-      <mirror type='file' file='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1Copy' job='copy' ready='yes'>
-        <source file='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1Copy'/>
+      <mirror type='block' job='copy' ready='yes'>
+        <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1Copy'/>
       </mirror>
       <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
       <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
diff --git a/tools/virsh-domain.c b/tools/virsh-domain.c
index 2bb3bbc48f..99336d294d 100644
--- a/tools/virsh-domain.c
+++ b/tools/virsh-domain.c
@@ -1544,6 +1544,8 @@ blockJobImpl(vshControl *ctl, const vshCmd *cmd,
             flags |= VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT;
         if (vshCommandOptBool(cmd, "raw"))
             flags |= VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_RAW;
+        if (vshCommandOptBool(cmd, "blockdev"))
+            flags |= VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_COPY_DEV;
         if (vshCommandOptStringReq(ctl, cmd, "dest", &base) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
         if (virDomainBlockRebase(dom, path, base, bandwidth, flags) < 0)
@@ -1855,6 +1857,10 @@ static const vshCmdOptDef opts_block_copy[] = {
      .type = VSH_OT_BOOL,
      .help = N_("use raw destination file")
     },
+    {.name = "blockdev",
+     .type = VSH_OT_BOOL,
+     .help = N_("copy destination is block device instead of regular file")
+    },
     {.name = "wait",
      .type = VSH_OT_BOOL,
      .help = N_("wait for job to reach mirroring phase")
diff --git a/tools/virsh.pod b/tools/virsh.pod
index d95df364d8..df198e6c65 100644
--- a/tools/virsh.pod
+++ b/tools/virsh.pod
@@ -899,7 +899,8 @@ unlimited. The hypervisor can choose whether to reject the value or
 convert it to the maximum value allowed.
 
 =item B<blockcopy> I<domain> I<path> I<dest> [I<bandwidth>] [I<--shallow>]
-[I<--reuse-external>] [I<--raw>] [I<--wait> [I<--async>] [I<--verbose>]]
+[I<--reuse-external>] [I<--raw>] [I<--blockdev>]
+[I<--wait> [I<--async>] [I<--verbose>]]
 [{I<--pivot> | I<--finish>}] [I<--timeout> B<seconds>]
 
 Copy a disk backing image chain to I<dest>. By default, this command
@@ -917,7 +918,9 @@ The format of the destination is determined by the first match in the
 following list: if I<--raw> is specified, it will be raw; if
 I<--reuse-external> is specified, the existing destination is probed
 for a format; and in all other cases, the destination format will
-match the source format.
+match the source format.  The destination is treated as a regular
+file unless I<--blockdev> is used to signal that it is a block
+device.
 
 By default, the copy job runs in the background, and consists of two
 phases.  Initially, the job must copy all data from the source, and