diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index eaae1da2e92..e4ede6ba06f 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3767,7 +3767,7 @@ if have_block
   endif
 endif
 
-common_ss.add(files('cpu-common.c'))
+common_ss.add(files('cpu-common.c', 'legacy_binary_info.c'))
 specific_ss.add(files('cpu-target.c', 'arch_info-target.c'))
 
 subdir('system')
diff --git a/include/qemu/legacy_binary_info.h b/include/qemu/legacy_binary_info.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ae67399ebf2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/qemu/legacy_binary_info.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/*
+ * QEMU legacy binary helpers
+ *
+ *  Copyright (c) Linaro
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
+ */
+
+#ifndef QEMU_LEGACY_BINARY_INFO_H
+#define QEMU_LEGACY_BINARY_INFO_H
+
+void legacy_binary_info_init(const char *argv0);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/legacy_binary_info.c b/legacy_binary_info.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0c50fc9248a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/legacy_binary_info.c
@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+/*
+ * QEMU legacy binary helpers
+ *
+ *  Copyright (c) Linaro
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
+ */
+
+#include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "qemu/arch_info.h"
+#include "qemu/legacy_binary_info.h"
+
+typedef struct LegacyBinaryInfo {
+    const char *binary_name;
+    QemuArchBit arch_bit;
+} LegacyBinaryInfo;
+
+/* List alphabetically sorted by binary_name */
+static const LegacyBinaryInfo legacy_binary_infos[] = {
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-aarch64",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_ARM,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-alpha",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_ALPHA,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-arm",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_ARM,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-avr",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_AVR,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-hppa",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_HPPA,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-i386",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_I386,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-loongarch64",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_LOONGARCH,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-m68k",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_M68K,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-microblaze",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_MICROBLAZE,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-microblazeel",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_MICROBLAZE,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-mips",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_MIPS,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-mips64",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_MIPS,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-mips64el",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_MIPS,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-mipsel",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_MIPS,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-or1k",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_OPENRISC,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-ppc",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_PPC,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-ppc64",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_PPC,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-riscv32",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_RISCV,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-riscv64",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_RISCV,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-rx",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_RX,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-s390x",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_S390X,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-sh4",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_SH4,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-sh4eb",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_SH4,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-sparc",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_SPARC,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-sparc64",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_SPARC,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-tricore",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_TRICORE,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-x86_64",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_I386,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-xtensa",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_XTENSA,
+    },
+    {
+        .binary_name = "qemu-system-xtensaeb",
+        .arch_bit = QEMU_ARCH_BIT_XTENSA,
+    },
+};
+
+static int current_index = -1;
+
+void legacy_binary_info_init(const char *argv0)
+{
+    g_auto(GStrv) tokens = g_strsplit(argv0, G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S, -1);
+    unsigned count = 0;
+    const char *binary_name;
+
+    while (tokens[count]) {
+        count++;
+    }
+    assert(count > 0);
+    binary_name = tokens[count - 1];
+
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(legacy_binary_infos); i++) {
+        if (!strcmp(legacy_binary_infos[i].binary_name, binary_name)) {
+            current_index = i;
+            return;
+        }
+    }
+    fprintf(stderr, "Missing legacy info for '%s' binary.\n", binary_name);
+    abort();
+}
diff --git a/system/vl.c b/system/vl.c
index a41ba4a2d5f..74a062c7fff 100644
--- a/system/vl.c
+++ b/system/vl.c
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include "qemu/units.h"
 #include "qemu/module.h"
 #include "qemu/arch_info.h"
+#include "qemu/legacy_binary_info.h"
 #include "exec/cpu-common.h"
 #include "exec/page-vary.h"
 #include "hw/qdev-properties.h"
@@ -2883,6 +2884,7 @@ void qemu_init(int argc, char **argv)
 
     error_init(argv[0]);
     qemu_init_exec_dir(argv[0]);
+    legacy_binary_info_init(argv[0]);
 
     os_setup_limits();
 
