diff --git a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
index 817ff4cf75..1336b4264a 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 
 /* vl.c */
 
-extern const char *bios_name;
 extern int only_migratable;
 extern const char *qemu_name;
 extern QemuUUID qemu_uuid;
diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c
index bbe65d3742..2b82e6f5cd 100644
--- a/softmmu/vl.c
+++ b/softmmu/vl.c
@@ -119,7 +119,6 @@
 
 static const char *data_dir[16];
 static int data_dir_idx;
-const char *bios_name = NULL;
 enum vga_retrace_method vga_retrace_method = VGA_RETRACE_DUMB;
 int display_opengl;
 const char* keyboard_layout = NULL;
@@ -4212,7 +4211,6 @@ void qemu_init(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     kernel_filename = qemu_opt_get(machine_opts, "kernel");
     initrd_filename = qemu_opt_get(machine_opts, "initrd");
     kernel_cmdline = qemu_opt_get(machine_opts, "append");
-    bios_name = qemu_opt_get(machine_opts, "firmware");
 
     opts = qemu_opts_find(qemu_find_opts("boot-opts"), NULL);
     if (opts) {