diff --git a/cpu-common.h b/cpu-common.h
index 6302372..6780506 100644
--- a/cpu-common.h
+++ b/cpu-common.h
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ static inline void cpu_register_physical_memory(target_phys_addr_t start_addr,
 
 ram_addr_t cpu_get_physical_page_desc(target_phys_addr_t addr);
 ram_addr_t qemu_ram_alloc(ram_addr_t);
+ram_addr_t qemu_ram_alloc_named(ram_addr_t, const char *);
 void qemu_ram_free(ram_addr_t addr);
 /* This should only be used for ram local to a device.  */
 void *qemu_get_ram_ptr(ram_addr_t addr);
diff --git a/exec.c b/exec.c
index c82e767..58c2a8e 100644
--- a/exec.c
+++ b/exec.c
@@ -2403,14 +2403,29 @@ void qemu_unregister_coalesced_mmio(target_phys_addr_t addr, ram_addr_t size)
         kvm_uncoalesce_mmio_region(addr, size);
 }
 
-ram_addr_t qemu_ram_alloc(ram_addr_t size)
+extern const char *named_map_prefix;
+extern const char *named_maps;
+
+ram_addr_t qemu_ram_alloc_named(ram_addr_t size, const char *name)
 {
     RAMBlock *new_block;
+    const char *p;
 
     size = TARGET_PAGE_ALIGN(size);
     new_block = qemu_malloc(sizeof(*new_block));
-
-    new_block->host = qemu_vmalloc(size);
+    
+    if (name && named_maps &&
+	(p = strstr(named_maps, name)) &&
+	(p == named_maps || p[-1] == ',')) {
+      char buffer[512];
+      int fd;
+      snprintf(buffer, 512, "%s%s", named_map_prefix, name);
+      fd = open(buffer, O_CREAT | O_RDWR, 0640);
+      ftruncate(fd, 0);
+      ftruncate(fd, size);
+      new_block->host = mmap(NULL, size, PROT_EXEC | PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, fd, 0);
+    } else
+      new_block->host = qemu_vmalloc(size);
     new_block->offset = last_ram_offset;
     new_block->length = size;
 
@@ -2430,6 +2445,11 @@ ram_addr_t qemu_ram_alloc(ram_addr_t size)
     return new_block->offset;
 }
 
+ram_addr_t qemu_ram_alloc(ram_addr_t size)
+{
+    return qemu_ram_alloc_named(size, NULL);
+}
+
 void qemu_ram_free(ram_addr_t addr)
 {
     /* TODO: implement this.  */
diff --git a/hw/pc.c b/hw/pc.c
index 58de372..1dac0ca 100644
--- a/hw/pc.c
+++ b/hw/pc.c
@@ -1161,7 +1161,7 @@ static void pc_init1(ram_addr_t ram_size,
     vmport_init();
 
     /* allocate RAM */
-    ram_addr = qemu_ram_alloc(0xa0000);
+    ram_addr = qemu_ram_alloc_named(0xa0000, "640k");
     cpu_register_physical_memory(0, 0xa0000, ram_addr);
 
     /* Allocate, even though we won't register, so we don't break the
@@ -1169,7 +1169,7 @@ static void pc_init1(ram_addr_t ram_size,
      * and some bios areas, which will be registered later
      */
     ram_addr = qemu_ram_alloc(0x100000 - 0xa0000);
-    ram_addr = qemu_ram_alloc(below_4g_mem_size - 0x100000);
+    ram_addr = qemu_ram_alloc_named(below_4g_mem_size - 0x100000, "below_4g");
     cpu_register_physical_memory(0x100000,
                  below_4g_mem_size - 0x100000,
                  ram_addr);
@@ -1179,7 +1179,7 @@ static void pc_init1(ram_addr_t ram_size,
 #if TARGET_PHYS_ADDR_BITS == 32
         hw_error("To much RAM for 32-bit physical address");
 #else
-        ram_addr = qemu_ram_alloc(above_4g_mem_size);
+        ram_addr = qemu_ram_alloc_named(above_4g_mem_size, "above_4g");
         cpu_register_physical_memory(0x100000000ULL,
                                      above_4g_mem_size,
                                      ram_addr);
@@ -1200,7 +1200,7 @@ static void pc_init1(ram_addr_t ram_size,
         (bios_size % 65536) != 0) {
         goto bios_error;
     }
-    bios_offset = qemu_ram_alloc(bios_size);
+    bios_offset = qemu_ram_alloc_named(bios_size, "bios");
     ret = load_image(filename, qemu_get_ram_ptr(bios_offset));
     if (ret != bios_size) {
     bios_error:
@@ -1220,7 +1220,7 @@ static void pc_init1(ram_addr_t ram_size,
 
 
 
-    option_rom_offset = qemu_ram_alloc(0x20000);
+    option_rom_offset = qemu_ram_alloc_named(0x20000, "option_rom");
     oprom_area_size = 0;
     cpu_register_physical_memory(0xc0000, 0x20000, option_rom_offset);
 
diff --git a/hw/vga.c b/hw/vga.c
index 514371c..feb0706 100644
--- a/hw/vga.c
+++ b/hw/vga.c
@@ -2238,7 +2238,7 @@ void vga_common_init(VGACommonState *s, int vga_ram_size)
         expand4to8[i] = v;
     }
 
-    s->vram_offset = qemu_ram_alloc(vga_ram_size);
+    s->vram_offset = qemu_ram_alloc_named(vga_ram_size, "vga");
     s->vram_ptr = qemu_get_ram_ptr(s->vram_offset);
     s->vram_size = vga_ram_size;
     s->get_bpp = vga_get_bpp;
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index d3aa55b..6db8b9e 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -280,6 +280,10 @@ a suffix of ``M'' or ``G'' can be used to signify a value in megabytes or
 gigabytes respectively.
 ETEXI
 
+DEF("sharedmaps", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_sharedmaps,
+    "-sharedmaps prefix:maps \
+                     Use files beginning with 'prefix' for memory allocations 'maps'\n")
+
 DEF("k", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_k,
     "-k language     use keyboard layout (for example 'fr' for French)\n")
 STEXI
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index eb01da7..8b9b9e0 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -270,6 +270,9 @@ uint8_t qemu_uuid[16];
 static QEMUBootSetHandler *boot_set_handler;
 static void *boot_set_opaque;
 
+char *named_map_prefix = NULL;
+char *named_maps = NULL;
+
 /***********************************************************/
 /* x86 ISA bus support */
 
@@ -5010,6 +5013,18 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
                 version();
                 exit(0);
                 break;
+	    case QEMU_OPTION_sharedmaps:
+	      if (!strcmp(optarg, "?")) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "supported named maps: ");
+		fprintf(stderr, "640k, below_4g, above_4g, vga, bios, option_rom\n");
+		exit(0);
+	      } else {
+		named_map_prefix = strdup(optarg);
+		named_maps = strchr(named_map_prefix, ':');
+		if (named_maps)
+		  *named_maps++ = '\0';
+	      }
+	      break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_m: {
                 uint64_t value;
                 char *ptr;