diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 08eefd0fba..4482cc2339 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -6568,10 +6568,7 @@ qemuProcessPrepareDomain(virQEMUDriver *driver,
 
     /* Whether we should use virtlogd as stdio handler for character
      * devices source backend. */
-    if (cfg->stdioLogD &&
-        virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV_FILE_APPEND)) {
-        priv->chardevStdioLogd = true;
-    }
+    priv->chardevStdioLogd = cfg->stdioLogD;
 
     /* Track if this domain remembers original owner */
     priv->rememberOwner = cfg->rememberOwner;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
index 63f3459c90..6f6d0577a6 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
@@ -2197,15 +2197,6 @@ qemuValidateDomainChrSourceDef(const virDomainChrSourceDef *def,
             return -1;
         break;
 
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_FILE:
-        if (def->data.file.append != VIR_TRISTATE_SWITCH_ABSENT &&
-            !virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV_FILE_APPEND)) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("append not supported in this QEMU binary"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-        break;
-
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_QEMU_VDAGENT:
         if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV_QEMU_VDAGENT)) {
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
@@ -2229,6 +2220,7 @@ qemuValidateDomainChrSourceDef(const virDomainChrSourceDef *def,
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_VC:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_PTY:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_DEV:
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_FILE:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_PIPE:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_STDIO:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_UDP:
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index cfe241e5a7..c716cf6bc2 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -1575,7 +1575,6 @@ mymain(void)
             QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_VFIO_PCI);
 
     DO_TEST("serial-file-log",
-            QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV_FILE_APPEND,
             QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_ISA_SERIAL,
             QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV_LOGFILE);
     DO_TEST("serial-spiceport",
@@ -1597,8 +1596,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("serial-dev-chardev-iobase",
             QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_ISA_SERIAL);
     DO_TEST("serial-file-chardev",
-            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_ISA_SERIAL,
-            QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV_FILE_APPEND);
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_ISA_SERIAL);
     DO_TEST("serial-unix-chardev",
             QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_ISA_SERIAL);
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("serial-file-log");