diff --git a/hw/qdev.c b/hw/qdev.c
index 79849c9..2519f00 100644
--- a/hw/qdev.c
+++ b/hw/qdev.c
@@ -1221,3 +1221,106 @@ gchar *qdev_get_canonical_path(DeviceState *dev)
 
     return newpath;
 }
+
+static DeviceState *qdev_resolve_abs_path(DeviceState *parent,
+                                          gchar **parts,
+                                          int index)
+{
+    DeviceProperty *prop;
+    DeviceState *child;
+
+    if (parts[index] == NULL) {
+        return parent;
+    }
+
+    if (strcmp(parts[index], "") == 0) {
+        return qdev_resolve_abs_path(parent, parts, index + 1);
+    }
+
+    prop = qdev_property_find(parent, parts[index]);
+    if (prop == NULL) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    child = NULL;
+    if (strstart(prop->type, "link<", NULL)) {
+        DeviceState **pchild = prop->opaque;
+        if (*pchild) {
+            child = *pchild;
+        }
+    } else if (strstart(prop->type, "child<", NULL)) {
+        child = prop->opaque;
+    }
+
+    if (!child) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    return qdev_resolve_abs_path(child, parts, index + 1);
+}
+
+static DeviceState *qdev_resolve_partial_path(DeviceState *parent,
+                                              gchar **parts,
+                                              bool *ambiguous)
+{
+    DeviceState *dev;
+    DeviceProperty *prop;
+
+    dev = qdev_resolve_abs_path(parent, parts, 0);
+
+    QTAILQ_FOREACH(prop, &parent->properties, node) {
+        DeviceState *found;
+
+        if (!strstart(prop->type, "child<", NULL)) {
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        found = qdev_resolve_partial_path(prop->opaque, parts, ambiguous);
+        if (found) {
+            if (dev) {
+                if (ambiguous) {
+                    *ambiguous = true;
+                }
+                return NULL;
+            }
+            dev = found;
+        }
+
+        if (ambiguous && *ambiguous) {
+            return NULL;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return dev;
+}
+
+DeviceState *qdev_resolve_path(const char *path, bool *ambiguous)
+{
+    bool partial_path = true;
+    DeviceState *dev;
+    gchar **parts;
+
+    parts = g_strsplit(path, "/", 0);
+    if (parts == NULL || parts[0] == NULL) {
+        g_strfreev(parts);
+        return qdev_get_root();
+    }
+
+    if (strcmp(parts[0], "") == 0) {
+        partial_path = false;
+    }
+
+    if (partial_path) {
+        if (ambiguous) {
+            *ambiguous = false;
+        }
+        dev = qdev_resolve_partial_path(qdev_get_root(), parts, ambiguous);
+    } else {
+        dev = qdev_resolve_abs_path(qdev_get_root(), parts, 1);
+    }
+
+    g_strfreev(parts);
+
+    return dev;
+}
+
diff --git a/hw/qdev.h b/hw/qdev.h
index 0f00497..641d134 100644
--- a/hw/qdev.h
+++ b/hw/qdev.h
@@ -499,4 +499,32 @@ DeviceState *qdev_get_root(void);
  */
 gchar *qdev_get_canonical_path(DeviceState *dev);
 
+/**
+ * @qdev_resolve_path - resolves a path returning a device
+ *
+ * There are two types of supported paths--absolute paths and partial paths.
+ * 
+ * Absolute paths are derived from the root device and can follow child<> or
+ * link<> properties.  Since they can follow link<> properties, they can be
+ * arbitrarily long.  Absolute paths look like absolute filenames and are
+ * prefixed with a leading slash.
+ * 
+ * Partial paths look like relative filenames.  They do not begin with a
+ * prefix.  The matching rules for partial paths are subtle but designed to make
+ * specifying devices easy.  At each level of the composition tree, the partial
+ * path is matched as an absolute path.  The first match is not returned.  At
+ * least two matches are searched for.  A successful result is only returned if
+ * only one match is founded.  If more than one match is found, a flag is
+ * return to indicate that the match was ambiguous.
+ *
+ * @path - the path to resolve
+ *
+ * @ambiguous - returns true if the path resolution failed because of an
+ *              ambiguous match
+ *
+ * Returns:
+ *   The matched device or NULL on path lookup failure.
+ */
+DeviceState *qdev_resolve_path(const char *path, bool *ambiguous);
+
 #endif
