diff --git a/arch_init.c b/arch_init.c
index 0c8c07d..aeebb8e 100644
--- a/arch_init.c
+++ b/arch_init.c
@@ -1108,7 +1108,7 @@
     return ret;
 }
 
-SaveVMHandlers savevm_ram_handlers = {
+static SaveVMHandlers savevm_ram_handlers = {
     .save_live_setup = ram_save_setup,
     .save_live_iterate = ram_save_iterate,
     .save_live_complete = ram_save_complete,
@@ -1117,6 +1117,11 @@
     .cancel = ram_migration_cancel,
 };
 
+void ram_mig_init(void)
+{
+    register_savevm_live(NULL, "ram", 0, 4, &savevm_ram_handlers, NULL);
+}
+
 struct soundhw {
     const char *name;
     const char *descr;
diff --git a/include/migration/migration.h b/include/migration/migration.h
index 3e1e6c7..31fbf17 100644
--- a/include/migration/migration.h
+++ b/include/migration/migration.h
@@ -113,8 +113,6 @@
 
 void acct_update_position(QEMUFile *f, size_t size, bool zero);
 
-extern SaveVMHandlers savevm_ram_handlers;
-
 uint64_t dup_mig_bytes_transferred(void);
 uint64_t dup_mig_pages_transferred(void);
 uint64_t skipped_mig_bytes_transferred(void);
diff --git a/include/sysemu/arch_init.h b/include/sysemu/arch_init.h
index be71bca..182d48d 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/arch_init.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/arch_init.h
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 void select_soundhw(const char *optarg);
 void do_acpitable_option(const QemuOpts *opts);
 void do_smbios_option(QemuOpts *opts);
+void ram_mig_init(void);
 void cpudef_init(void);
 void audio_init(void);
 int tcg_available(void);
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 236f95e..8411a4a 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -4306,6 +4306,7 @@
     cpu_exec_init_all();
 
     blk_mig_init();
+    ram_mig_init();
 
     /* open the virtual block devices */
     if (snapshot)
@@ -4320,8 +4321,6 @@
     default_drive(default_floppy, snapshot, IF_FLOPPY, 0, FD_OPTS);
     default_drive(default_sdcard, snapshot, IF_SD, 0, SD_OPTS);
 
-    register_savevm_live(NULL, "ram", 0, 4, &savevm_ram_handlers, NULL);
-
     if (nb_numa_nodes > 0) {
         int i;