diff --git a/rust/src/cxxrsutil.rs b/rust/src/cxxrsutil.rs
index 4daddfbe..fb9fa984 100644
--- a/rust/src/cxxrsutil.rs
+++ b/rust/src/cxxrsutil.rs
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ macro_rules! cxxrs_bind {
 cxxrs_bind!(Ostree, ostree, ostree_sys, [Sysroot, Repo, Deployment]);
 cxxrs_bind!(G, glib, gobject_sys, [Object]);
 cxxrs_bind!(G, gio, gio_sys, [Cancellable, DBusConnection]);
-cxxrs_bind!(G, glib, glib_sys, [VariantDict]);
+cxxrs_bind!(G, glib, glib_sys, [Variant, VariantDict]);
 
 // An error type helper; separate from the GObject bridging
 mod err {
diff --git a/rust/src/lib.rs b/rust/src/lib.rs
index d04407a4..ebf2fbc2 100644
--- a/rust/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rust/src/lib.rs
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ pub mod ffi {
         type GObject = crate::FFIGObject;
         type GCancellable = crate::FFIGCancellable;
         type GDBusConnection = crate::FFIGDBusConnection;
+        type GVariant = crate::FFIGVariant;
         type GVariantDict = crate::FFIGVariantDict;
 
         #[namespace = "dnfcxx"]
@@ -216,8 +217,10 @@ pub mod ffi {
             deployment: Pin<&mut OstreeDeployment>,
         ) -> Result<bool>;
         fn applylive_sync_ref(sysroot: Pin<&mut OstreeSysroot>) -> Result<()>;
-        // FIXME/cxx make this Option<&str>
-        fn transaction_apply_live(sysroot: Pin<&mut OstreeSysroot>, target: &str) -> Result<()>;
+        fn transaction_apply_live(
+            sysroot: Pin<&mut OstreeSysroot>,
+            target: Pin<&mut GVariant>,
+        ) -> Result<()>;
     }
 
     // passwd.rs
diff --git a/rust/src/live.rs b/rust/src/live.rs
index 4f39c9a7..b78585d1 100644
--- a/rust/src/live.rs
+++ b/rust/src/live.rs
@@ -350,14 +350,13 @@ fn get_required_booted_deployment(sysroot: &ostree::Sysroot) -> Result<ostree::D
 /// Implementation of `rpm-ostree ex apply-live`.
 pub(crate) fn transaction_apply_live(
     mut sysroot: Pin<&mut crate::ffi::OstreeSysroot>,
-    target: &str,
+    mut options: Pin<&mut crate::ffi::GVariant>,
 ) -> CxxResult<()> {
     let sysroot = &sysroot.gobj_wrap();
-    let target = if !target.is_empty() {
-        Some(target)
-    } else {
-        None
-    };
+    let options = &options.gobj_wrap();
+    let options = glib::VariantDict::new(Some(options));
+    let target = options.lookup_value("target", Some(glib::VariantTy::new("s").unwrap()));
+    let target = target.as_ref().map(|v| v.get_str()).flatten();
     let repo = &sysroot.repo().expect("repo");
 
     let booted = get_required_booted_deployment(sysroot)?;
diff --git a/src/daemon/rpmostreed-transaction-applylive.cxx b/src/daemon/rpmostreed-transaction-applylive.cxx
index 251c83ae..a44eae98 100644
--- a/src/daemon/rpmostreed-transaction-applylive.cxx
+++ b/src/daemon/rpmostreed-transaction-applylive.cxx
@@ -69,14 +69,9 @@ livefs_transaction_execute (RpmostreedTransaction *transaction,
   LiveFsTransaction *self = (LiveFsTransaction *) transaction;
   OstreeSysroot *sysroot = rpmostreed_transaction_get_sysroot (transaction);
 
-  g_auto(GVariantDict) options_dict;
-  g_variant_dict_init (&options_dict, self->options);
-  const char *target = NULL;
-  (void) g_variant_dict_lookup (&options_dict, "target", "&s", &target);
-
   /* Run the transaction */
   try {
-    rpmostreecxx::transaction_apply_live(*sysroot, target ?: "");
+    rpmostreecxx::transaction_apply_live(*sysroot, *self->options);
   } catch (std::exception& e) {
     (void) rpmostree_syscore_bump_mtime (sysroot, NULL);
     throw;
diff --git a/src/libpriv/rpmostree-cxxrs-prelude.h b/src/libpriv/rpmostree-cxxrs-prelude.h
index 8436d163..ae83391a 100644
--- a/src/libpriv/rpmostree-cxxrs-prelude.h
+++ b/src/libpriv/rpmostree-cxxrs-prelude.h
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ namespace rpmostreecxx {
     typedef ::GObject GObject;
     typedef ::GCancellable GCancellable;
     typedef ::GDBusConnection GDBusConnection;
+    typedef ::GVariant GVariant;
     typedef ::GVariantDict GVariantDict;
 }